WATCH: Drink-driver forfeits truck and jailed for two months
A DRINK-DRIVER was made to forfeit his Mitsubishi pick-up truck as part of his sentence when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court.
Dale Simon, 26, of Treetops, 4, Croutes Havilland, St Peter Port, admitted offences of failing to provide a breath sample when suspected of being over the prescribed alcohol limit, dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident, and failing to stop when required to so by police.
Crown advocate Chris Dunford told the court how all matters related to one incident.
At about 12.45am a witness saw the defendant drive over the bonnet of a parked car as he left the Victoria Pier. Police caught up with him at South Esplanade, where he was seen to collide with pedestrian railings and damage his vehicle. He continued up Le Val de Terres where dash-cam footage from the police car showed him mounting a bank near the top and striking a lamp post. He turned left towards Fort George, driving along the pavement before colliding with the left side of the arch. The vehicle was swerving from side to side and the defendant failed to stop despite officers deploying blue lights on the police car.
The pick-up truck eventually stopped and Simon was arrested. In custody he failed to provide a breath sample, which officers believed was a wilful act.
In interview, he said he had a problem with alcohol. He had been out for a meal and a few drinks that night. He could remember nothing of the incident. When shown the dash-cam footage he said he was embarrassed and ashamed of what he had done and it had scared him that people could have been in the area at the time.
He had bought the truck for £7,000 from the UK in August.
In March 2016 he was convicted of drink-driving and in February this year for assault after he head-butted someone in a nightclub. He had completed the community service order that was imposed but these matters put him in breach of the probation order element.
Advocate Dunford said the prosecution were seeking forfeiture of the vehicle because it had been used in the commission of the offences.
Advocate Sam Maindonald said the truck had been bought with a loan and she argued that confiscating it was a disproportionate.
This had not been a high-speed chase – her client had travelled at no more than 25mph – and there were no other people in the area.
He did not drink regularly but when he did he binge drank and clearly needed support.
Judge Gary Perry said Advocate Dunford’s interpretation of the law in relation to forfeiture was correct. The law would be a nonsense if people were exempt just because their vehicles were on hire purchase.
‘This was a very serious offence that involved a prolonged course of driving, even if it was not at a high speed,’ he said.
‘The standard of your driving tells me that you had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol before driving.
‘You say your actions were disgraceful and in my view that is an understatement.’
Simon was jailed for two months and banned from driving for five years for failing to provide a breath sample. Lesser concurrent penalties were imposed for the other matters. Forfeiture of the pick-up truck was ordered, which Judge Perry said he had taken into account as part of the overall sentence.
