Woman convicted of drink driving after crashing car

Woman convicted of drink driving after crashing car

A WOMAN found drunk in her car after it slid off the road has been found guilty of driving while unfit and careless driving.

Catherine Bradley-Neill (55) had denied the charges when she appeared for the second part of a part-heard contest at Downpatrick Court on Thursday.

Bradley-Neill told the court she had gone to Tesco late on the evening of July 11, 2012 to buy reduced food items for some of the many animals she cared for. At the same time she said she bought a bottle of Sambuca. 

She said she then decided on a detour, taking her dog to Newcastle and stopping at a reserve, and on heading back to Banbridge came across a road with which she wasn’t familiar.

Reaching the Ballyhaffry Road at Castlewellan she said her car “hit the lip” of the verge and went down a slope.

Bradley-Neill had outlined a number of debilitating physical conditions to the court and when the car crashed she said she knew she would be unable to get back on to the road.

Believing she would be there until daylight, she said she drank from the bottle of Sambuca.

“I was self medicating,” she said.

“I didn’t know what to do. I was in pain and frightened.”

She then put the empty bottle of Sambuca out of the car, she told the court, and lost the receipt.

Bradley-Neill was found the next morning by police and had a blood alcohol reading of 212mgs — over twice the legal limit — seven hours after the accident.

In her evidence the woman also claimed she did not realise she was being interviewed by police when they called to the house. She said she presumed the questions were a formality as her car had already been fixed by her insurers, and added that she had signed nothing.

A relative who also acted as her carer told the court she 

went to the scene a couple of days later in a taxi, with jacks to prop up the crashed car, to 

collect personal items. Among them she said was the bottle of Sambuca, which was underneath the car.

District Judge Greg McCourt said he was unimpressed with this version of events. He said Bradley-Neill could have asked the taxi driver to give evidence, asked Tesco for a receipt for the Sambuca or organised a retrospective blood test.

“It all strikes me as somewhat fanciful to say the least,” he said. “You lose credit for not pleading guilty.”

Bradley-Neill, of Hillhead Close, Banbridge, was banned from the roads for 18 months and fined £700.