Man drove up embankment in bid to evade gardaí

Gardaí spotted that a suspected drink driver had stopped his car on the slow lane of the Mallow Rd in Cork but on seeing the guards the motorist took off at speed across the hard shoulder and up on to the grass embankment.

Gerard Walsh of 12 Meadow Crescent, The Meadows, Hollyhill, Cork, pleaded guilty to offences arising out of this.

He also pleaded guilty to a threatening charge arising out of another incident where he shouted threats at a motorist following a car accident.

Inspector Mary King said Garda Patrick Casey pulled up behind Walsh’s Volkswagen Golf which was stopped in the slow lane at Killeens on the Mallow Rd, Cork, on Sep 1, 2012.

“The car took off, careering across the hard shoulder and mounting the grass embankment,” Insp King said.

The Golf then stopped and when Garda Casey and his colleague, Garda Maria Gibbons, approached Walsh they got a strong smell of intoxicants from his breath.

Later at the Bridewell he blew into the intoxalyser machine. However, the machine malfunctioned and the defendant was later asked to give a sample of blood or urine to the designated doctor. He refused to do so.

As well as pleading guilty to the refusal and related charges, Walsh pleaded guilty to threatening the motorist he deemed responsible for knocking down a relative on May 2, and being drunk at the time of the threatening behaviour.

Judge Con O’Leary put sentencing back for two months.