Pedestrians had to 'jump out of the way' of Midleton drug driver 

Man fled from a checkpoint and broke red lights when he was chased by gardaí

Midleton District Court.

A man who fled a garda checkpoint while drug driving, broke red lights when he was chased by gardaí and had pedestrians jump out of his way in a Cork town was given a two-month suspended jail term.

Dean Lewis, 27, was also disqualified from driving for four years following the chase after which he was found to have cannabis in his system.

On June 4, 2020, at 8.30pm, Lewis failed to stop at a garda checkpoint at Youngrove, Midelton.

He was pursued by gardaí under blue lights and drove through a red traffic light at Knockgriffin.

He then drove through Broomfield East, causing pedestrians to jump out of his way, Midleton District Court heard.

A subsequent drugs test showed positive readings for cannabis, with 5.9 nanograms (ng) of the substance where they should not exceed 1 and a reading of 58.3ng when that level should not exceed 5.

His solicitor, Pat Horan, said that Lewis had transformed his life in recent years, setting up a company, caring for his family and employing three other people, despite having had a challenging background.

Pled guilty

He has four children and had pleaded guilty to the charges, he said.

“He comes from a family well known to the guards.

“He operates his own construction company, a groundworks company,” Mr Horan said.

“His life has been transformed in the last two years.

“For a man from his background he has some great prospects for the future.

But times are tough, he has to find paychecks for three people. And he is the only breadwinner, he is keeping himself above water and he wants to help his family.

“When he was told to stop that night he didn’t, that was stupid.

“He didn’t have insurance, he panicked and drove off but he eventually pulled over.” Judge Joanne Carroll noted that his actions were serious, saying that “someone had to jump out of the way” to avoid him that evening.

The court heard that Lewis had 26 previous convictions, mostly for driving offences, including dangerous driving, drug driving and driving with no insurance and had been disqualified from driving.

Judge Carroll handed Lewis a two-month suspended sentence for dangerous driving.

She also disqualified him from driving for four years for driving without insurance and disqualified him from driving for 12 months for drug driving.

She struck out additional charges and said that she would not give any further penalties considering the conditions Mr Horan had outlined to the court.