Suspended sentence for repeat Kilkenny offender

A suspended sentence was handed down to a defendant who admitting driving while under the influence of alcohol, at a recent sitting of Kilkenny District Court.

Patrick Carthy, Good Shepherd Centre, Church Lane, Kilkenny was convicted of the offence at the Castlecomer Road, Kilkenny on August 4, 2025. The court heard that on the date in question gardaí were on patrol when they observed the defendant driving and attempted to intercept him.

The defendant came to a stop at a filling station on the Castlecomer Road and he was arrested. He subsequently provided a breath same which provided a reading of 45 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The court also heard that the defendant was a specified driver at the time of the offence.

Sergeant Morgan O’Connor told the court that the defendant has 83 previous convictions including for public order offences, dangerous driving, drink driving on a sulkie, drink driving on a MPV and four previous convictions for no insurance.

Solicitor Chris Hogan said that on the date in question the defendant was driving a friend’s vehicle.

“He had been drinking the night before. He went to a garage to get painkillers for his friend,” said Mr Hogan adding that his client had instructed him that there were no painkillers in the garage so he drove 500 metres up the road to the next filling station.

“He was not trying to evade gardaí,” said Mr Hogan.

The court heard that Patrick Carthy’s last drink driving offence was in 2001.

Judge Cephas Power said that the plea before the court was ‘a valuable plea’.

Judge Power imposed a three month prison sentence which he suspended for a period of 12 months on condition that the defendant does not drive or attempt to drive an MPV.

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