Singing legend Donovan fined for dangerous driving, second charge dismissed

Donovan Leitch was also disqualified from driving for two years. Picture: Andy Gibson

Sixties music legend Donovan has been fined €500 and disqualified from driving for two years for dangerous driving, but has had a charge of being drunk in charge of a vehicle dismissed.

Donovan Leitch, now 77, was told by Judge James McNulty that it would be unsafe to convict him on the charge of being drunk in charge of a vehicle following submissions by the Scottish folk singer's legal team on the matter.

Donovan, who sprang to fame with hits including Hurdy Gurdy Man, Mellow Yellow and Sunshine Superman, was in court to hear the verdict. He had previously appeared before Skibbereen District Court last October, when evidence was heard relating to the incident at Aghills in Skibbereen on February 11 last year.

Mr Leitch, with an address at Castlemagner, Kanturk, Co Cork, had been seen driving by Veronica Whooley, who was a passenger in a car which was being driven from Skibbereen to Leap in West Cork on that evening. She had told the court last year that she saw the person in front of her was driving in a manner which made her apprehensive. She contacted gardaí after she saw the car going back and forth over the white line from the left hand side to the right hand side of the road.

Ms Whooley had told the court: “He [the driver] went around the bend on the wrong side of the road, at that point I felt I had to do something for the safety of the driver and for the safety of other road users. I called the guards and gave the vehicle [registration] number.” 

Mrs Whooley had continued on her journey and subsequently saw the vehicle parked “partially on and off the road.” Judge McNulty had convicted Mr Leitch of dangerous driving but had reserved his decision on the charge that Mr Leitch was drunk in charge of a vehicle.

Also last October Judge McNulty had dismissed a charge against Mr Leitch of failing to provide a breath sample to gardaí, having heard from respiratory specialist Professor Oisin O’Connell, who outlined how the COPD and restricted lung disease suffered by Leitch would have inhibited his ability to provide a sample.

That meant when the matter came before the court again on Tuesday it was for penalty on the dangerous driving charge and for decision on the charge that Mr Leitch had been drunk in charge of a vehicle on the night in question.

Judge McNulty referred to legal submissions made to him by SC for Mr Leitch, Michael McGrath, telling the court that those submissions had persuaded the court that it would be unjust to convict Mr Leitch on the charge of being drunk in charge of a vehicle.

"It would be unsafe on legal grounds to convict," the judge said. "The court dismisses the charge as not proven."

The court heard Donovan had no previous convictions, had lived in Ireland for 30 years and was still working. Mr McGrath, SC, told the judge that Mr Leitch did charitable work for UNICEF and the Cork School of Art, among others, and that he regretted the inconvenience to gardaí and to the courts system.

Judge McNulty had convicted Donovan Leitch (pictured) of dangerous driving but had reserved his decision on the charge that Mr Leitch was drunk in charge of a vehicle. File picture: Brian Lougheed

Judge McNulty said Mr Leitch was entitled to be dealt with leniently, imposing a €500 fine, with 90 days to pay, alongside the mandatory two years driving disqualification. Recognisance for an appeal was set on Mr Leitch's own bond of €100, no cash required.

Judge McNulty remarked: "When he was stopped by gardaí he [Mr Leitch] was emitting a smell of alcohol and appeared somewhat disorientated. But significantly, he kept saying to Garda [Daniel] Quinlan, 'I'm fine, I'm fine'.

"His [Donovan's] enquiry was if he had damaged any property or any person and that is greatly to his credit."

The judge said that Mr Leitch's primary concern was for others and likened the situation to that of former Attorney General of the United States, Robert Kennedy, who on being shot in the 1968 incident, following which he died, asked 'Is everybody ok?'.

Speaking to Mr McGrath, the judge referred to Donovan's relationship with the Beatles: "In 1968 your client may have been in India, in very exalted company. That is another matter greatly to his credit, that he kept such good company.”