Drink driving

block71

was talking to a friend of mine yesterday who was stopped last year may I think and randomly breath tested and unfourtantley she was just over she received her summons and appeared in court she says last January and after waiting in court the whole day the judge struck out the case as the guard did not turn up or he couldnt be contacted. the garda who works in the court tried to contact him and then said that he couldnt be reached and he asked the judge to set a new date and the judge said she would deal with it there and then and called my freind to the front of the court and said the case was struck out and she was free to go.now she rings me in an awfull state yesterday saying that she has to back to court in July to face the same charges ...can this be done ?? can she be charged for the same thing twice?? i told her to contact her solicitor but was just asking has anyone heard of this before.....thanks

source

Yes it can, It's called an appeal. When the court makes a decision for one side the other side can appeal the decision if they feel they were hard done by.

Chances are the member had a very good reason for not being in court, which had the judge heard it, he would have adjourned to another date.

Also some friendly advice, your post is very hard to read because of the lack of punctuation. You may throw in a few comma's and full stops.

block71

Excuse the punctuation.
Has she any grounds for a dismissal based on a technicallaty or is there any angle she can take ??

Godsentme

Interesting...

If the judge said the case was struck out, well that means to my way of thinking it's off the books. And if there was an appeal surly she should have been informed as she is the biggest player in this.

Lousy ok, but she shouldn't have been DD in the first place:(

Milk & Honey

foinse wrote: »

Yes it can, It's called an appeal. When the court makes a decision for one side the other side can appeal the decision if they feel they were hard done by.

Chances are the member had a very good reason for not being in court, which had the judge heard it, he would have adjourned to another date.

Also some friendly advice, your post is very hard to read because of the lack of punctuation. You may throw in a few comma's and full stops.

This is NOT an appeal. The member does not have to give a reason to the judge why he was not in Court. It would be most improper if the judge heard from one party while the other side was not on notice.
When the judge struck out the charge it was struck out without prejudice. There is nothing to stop the member applying for a fresh summons arising out of the same incident. This is obviously what has been done. It happens from time to time. No evidence was heard and so the trial can run.

block71

so she has no grounds for any technicality
to set the record straight she was dropping her son at gaa at 10am on a sat in Bushy park and was stoped at a check point and randamly tested along with 10 others and was found to be just over from the night before.

has anyone any ideas ??

Milk & Honey

I know someone else who had the same experience on the Rathfarnham Road. Struck out, summons re-issued. At trial, found a loophole and escaped. Legal advice necessary at this point. A costly trip to the District Court to plead the case with maybe an acquittal or else a fine and ban, otherwise a guilty plea and a smaller fine and ban.

Plazaman

She should talk with her solicitor is the only idea I can come up with, presumably she had secured the services for the first case so he/she would know all about it.

I'd say the Guard is determined not to let this one go, if all of them were like that it'd be great. Harsh lesson to learn but ce la vie.

BrianD

Well if stopped a person with a child at in car while over the limit at 10am in the morning then I can understand why he might want to persist with this one.

block71

no kids in the car just 6 cars in a row stopped and randomly tested she has a date set for 14th july and is all over the place with worry.She spoke to her solicitor who wasnt reasuring but said he will try his best..anyone recomend a rothweiller who can plead her case ...awkward questions i know sorry

bath handle

I can tell you the name of a barrister who got a friend of mine off. Cost 850 euro.

MagicSean

block71 wrote: »

no kids in the car just 6 cars in a row stopped and randomly tested she has a date set for 14th july and is all over the place with worry.She spoke to her solicitor who wasnt reasuring but said he will try his best..anyone recomend a rothweiller who can plead her case ...awkward questions i know sorry

Do you mean a guilty plea? A driving ban is mandatory once someone is convicted of drink driving. If you mean to fight her case for her then it could be quite expensive and comes with no guarantees as well as the possibility of a higher penalty.

spurs1961

The strike out was worthless as there was no adjudication of facts.

Your friend needs to get good court solicitor, one who actually does drink driving and take her chances.

It will either be the best or the worst money she will ever spend.

You have to try and win even if the odds are against you as Judge has no discretion over ban