Banned driver’s conviction overturned on sample delay

A MOTORIST banned from driving after cocaine was found in a blood sample had his conviction overturned yesterday because there had been a four-month delay in analysing the sample due to staff shortages.

Limerick Circuit Court was told the delay in analysing the blood sample taken from Joseph Culhane of Canon Hyde Park, Tipperary town, for drugs, arose from staff shortages at the medical bureau in Dublin.

Granting Mr Culhane’s appeal, Judge Carroll Moran said section 19 of the Road Traffic Act stated that samples should be analysed as soon as practicable after they are taken. A delay of four months could not be seen as “soon as practicable” and he was not entitled to take into account the excuse of lack or resources. The court was told that of the 20,204 samples sent by gardaí for analysis in 2007, there were 1,155 suspected of containing drugs, an increase of 31.4% on the previous year.