A judge said he does not know how a west Clare man is alive after readings show that on two occasions he was 61 times and 46 times over the legal limit for cocaine while driving.
At Kilrush District Court, Judge Alec Gabbett said drug-driving offending by Jonathan Kenny (36), formerly of Elm Drive, Kilrush and now of Querrin, Kilkee, “is very grave”.
Solicitor for Kenny, Patrick Moylan, said that based on the cocaine readings before the court, Kenny “should be dead”.
Judge Gabbett imposed a three-month prison term after Kenny was found to be 46 times over the legal limit for cocaine when detected driving on the wrong side of the road on Kilrush’s Moore Street on December 4th, 2024.
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He also imposed a two-year driving ban.
In the case, Kenny pleaded guilty to drug-driving where the reading shows that the concentration of Benzoylecgonine (cocaine) in his blood was at 2,292 ng/ml on December 4th, 2024.
The legal limit for Benzoylecgonine when driving is 50 ng/ml, and Judge Gabbett said that this was 46 times over the limit.
He said the three-month prison term is to run consecutive to a three-month prison term imposed last week on Kenny when he was found to have been 61 times over the legal limit on October 29th, 2024, at Lifford Road, Ennis, where the reading showed 3,075 ng/ml of cocaine in his system.
Judge Gabbett said that on December 4th, 2024, Kenny was “exceptionally intoxicated” while driving with the amount of cocaine he had consumed.
He said: “I know Mr Kenny disputes the levels, but I don’t know how he is alive if he has that much in his system. He has had two exceptionally high readings for drug-driving.
“I dealt with a very serious case where someone had a very high reading for drugs and that man died on the motorway with that level of reading, and he died in the car, and when he died three other people nearly died as well.”
He said: “This is a very serious issue for me and that is why it warrants a custodial sentence. With this level of reading - you could die while in the car and kill other road users.”
Kenny has 71 previous convictions.
Kenny told Judge Gabbett he was off the rails at the time of the offending, but that now, “I am trying my best, I really am”.
