A detective who crashed an unmarked Garda car on the M50 in Dublin after he spent hours in a pub is appealing a dangerous driving conviction for which he was fined €500 and given a two-year driving ban.
Det Garda Kevin Keys, of Mountjoy station, Dublin, lost control of a car which hit a 4X4 driven by Gareth Wooster, who did not sustain serious injuries, on February 6th, 2010. In March at Dublin District Court, Keys was found guilty of dangerous driving, a charge he contested.
Keys told Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission investigators he was delivering a witness summons and had drunk four or five lager shandies that day but was fit to drive. Another detective had told the court it was possible Keys had six pints of lager. Keys had been rostered to work that day from 9am to 5pm but at about 2pm he went to a pub in Phibsboro in Dublin and stayed there with colleagues until 7.30pm.
The detective has lodged an appeal against the conviction which was listed for mention before Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Court yesterday. She ordered that the appeal take place in December.