A Letterkenny man who struck a taxi-driver in the eye after throwing a number of coins at him in a row over a fare has appeared in court.
Kevin Devine appeared at Letterkenny District Court facing a number of charges including assault, dangerous driving, drink-driving and driving without insurance or a license.
All the incidents relate to two dates.
Devine, a 54-year-old father-of-two, pleaded guilty to the charges.
The court was told that on November 3rd, 2021, Gardai received a call from a taxi driver saying he had been assaulted by a man who was racist and refused to pay the full fare.
The driver said the incident happened at Ballaghderg and that he was struck by coins thrown at him by Devine and temporarily lost his sight.
When questioned by Gardai about the incident, Devine, of Ballaghderg, said he had no recollection of any incident with a taxi-driver.
On October 14th, 2022, Gardai were driving to Letterkenny at 8.44pm at Ballaghderg when they noticed a car exiting a junction onto the N56 and going towards Letterkenny.
The driver failed to observe the oncoming patrol car and swerved before entering onto a grass verge before almost colliding with a steel railing and then stopping.
Gardai arrested Devine at Carnamuggagh Lower, Letterkenny and took him to Letterkenny Garda Station on suspicion of drink driving.
A sample was taken from the suspect which showed a reading of 70 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath.
Gardai discovered that Devine was already banned from driving and no insurance documents were produced.
The court was told that the accused has 29 previous convictions and had been disqualified from driving on a number of occasions for various road traffic offences.
The accused man’s solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said his client is an alcoholic who was suffering a relationship break-up and had turned to alcohol.
He has completed the Pro Social Driving Course and received the highest scores his solicitor had seen of anybody sent to complete the course.
Mr Gallagher said he was asking Judge Eiteain Cunningham to take a certain course.
At his worst, Devine was drinking up to two bottles of vodka a day and it was during these times that these two incidents occurred.
He said his client not only knows his addictions but also now understands his addictions saying Devine now has a much more positive view now that he is sober.
“He is a man who has turned around and asked the court for some grace. It is a daily and weekly battle but he is winning the battle. I would suggest that if he gets a custodial sentence then that will take him back further,” he added.
He asked Judge Cunningham if she would consider postponing her final sentence until after Christmas to see if there is “a fall.”
Judge Cunningham said the matters were “extremely serious” and was only considering the matters due to the representations made on Devine’s behalf.
However, she added that the court could not ignore the fact that there are significant previous convictions and that Devine is still disqualified from driving until 20026.
She added that the accused is still very much “at risk.”
Judge Cunningham ordered a new Probation and Welfare Report and adjourned the case until March 26th, 2024 for sentence finalisation.
