A Crossmaglen man who drove from a pub to get a Chinese just a few hundred yards away has been banned from driving for 12 months.
Padraig James McGahon, of Cullaville Road, appeared before Newry Magistrates’ Court on Friday charged with drink driving.
The court heard how the 38-year-old, on the evening of Saturday, June 22, parked up outside a Chinese takeaway in The Square having exited a nearby pub.
A prosecution solicitor told the court how McGahon was looking out for police, “constantly looking over his shoulder” having walked off from the car with a number of takeaways.
Police then approached and spoke to him. He was arrested shortly after 6pm and taken to Banbridge Custody Suite. There he supplied a breath test, resulting in a fail.
McGahon’s defence solicitor asked for his client to receive credit for his early guilty plea before adding that his client did not intend on driving and only had driven a short distance across The Square.
District Judge Eamon King fined the defendant £200 and disqualified him for one year and stated he was not to be back on the road until tested again.
A £15 offender’s levy was also imposed.
