Judge tells drink-drive defendant he 'definitely doesn't have a career as a fantasy writer'

Midleton Courthouse. File picture

A judge said a man “definitely does not have a career as a fantasy writer” after he told “bald-face lies” to court in a bid to get out of a drink driving charge in Cork.

Eryk Janas, 27, of Apartment 6, The Granary, Church St, Cloyne, was found with blood on his face, soaking wet and muddy in ripped clothes with alcohol on his breath on February 20 at Sculleen, Cloyne.

His car had crashed into a wall. When he was found in a ditch by a witness he was “incoherent” but conscious after 1am that morning, Midleton District Court heard.

He disappeared into woods near the crash but reemerged and was arrested by gardaí.

He initially refused to tell gardaí his name but said that he was driving home.

Gardaí told the court that he later admitted having been to a party that night and drinking whisky.

But Janas said this was untrue and he had actually been at home with his wife and young child until a ‘friend of a friend’ called him to ask for a lift late that night.

He told the court he got out of bed to give this man, whose surname he did not know and whose phone number he subsequently lost, a lift back to Cloyne.

This unnamed man then hit him in the face when he refused to drive him to Ballycotton instead, resulting in the crash, he said.

After the crash he said he could no longer find his passenger. He said he went into the nearby woods looking for him and then returned to the car. There, he said he found a shopping bag left by the man with whisky or gin in it which he then drank to cope with the shock.

When gardaí breathalysed Janas at 3.25am that morning, he had a reading of 75mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The limit is 9mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

He told his solicitor Don Ryan that he did not think to tell gardaí about this mystery man that night or the bottle of alcohol he said he found in the car due to stress and shock.

Judge Colm Roberts said Janas' story was “total fabrication” and he was “trying to deceive court”.

“You’re saying he hit you and caused the crash. If it’s his fault would you not try to get his address and get Mr Ryan to sue him for causing the crash? You know the rules of the road, instead of calling the guards, you rumble into a bag and have a drink.

“You can’t tell us what it was - whisky, vodka, gin. They taste very different.

Was it cranberry juice? I have no doubt you’re telling me total fabrications. I’m satisfied you’re telling bald face lies. I find his defence outrageous. He has no credibility whatsoever.

“If what he was saying was true the first thing he’d say is ‘I was assaulted’. He definitely does not have a career as a fantasy writer.” 

Judge Roberts said that he was convicting Janas.

He was disqualified from driving for three years and fined €400 with six months to pay.