Alex Luis, 34, of Ville au Roi, St Peter Port, admitted the drink-driving offence.
The court was told how police officers were called to attend a road traffic collision in La Charroterie, St Peter Port, shortly before 9.30pm on a Sunday.
One car had collided with another, which in turn was knocked into another. The vehicle which had caused the crash appeared to be abandoned but the defendant appeared from a nearby property and identified himself as the driver. He was unsteady on his feet and his breath smelt of alcohol. He told officers that he had messed up and that he was drunk.
A test at the Police Station following his arrest identified 115 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of his breath when the legal limit is 35. Defending, Advocate Samuel Steel said his client accepted that this was a very serious matter and that the outcome could have been fatal.
He noted that his client had not been stopped behind the wheel and had gone to a friend’s house. The address was not connected to him. His advocate said he could have spent the night there, sobering up, and potentially have avoided court. His remorse was genuine and he had now given up drinking, he added.
Judge Marc Davies said he would accept that the defendant had gone to his friend’s home out of panic. It was tragic to learn a hard lesson in this way, he said, and such a conviction was a big fall from grace for someone with a clean record.
But there appeared to be an epidemic of serious drink-driving cases before the court of late and a noncustodial penalty could not be justified. Luis was also banned from driving for three years.