6 months’ jail for drunk driver

A DRUNK driver has been jailed for six months by a magistrate in San Fernando.

Vijay Ramlochan, 38, of Battoo Avenue, Marabella, was ordered by magistrate Lisa Singh-Phillip to serve the jail term with hard labour, he having been fined $8,000 three years ago for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Ramlochan was arrested on Tuesday during a police exercise in Marabella and a breathalyser test revealed his breath contained 129 micrograms of alcohol. The legal limit is 35 micrograms per 100 miililitres of breath.

Taken before Singh-Phillip on Wednesday, Ramlochan pleaded guilty and was remanded into custody until Thursday morning for sentencing.

Prosecutor Sgt Maharaj, told the magistrate that PC Alex Mohammed saw Ramlochan seated behind the steering wheel. The vehicle's engine was running, and when asked if he had consumed alcohol, Ramlochan replied, "I had some beers."

Told that he must take a breathalyser test, the prosecutor said Ramlochan replied, "But officer ah wasn't driving. Ah was taking some AC in the van before ah drive home."

Three tests were done and the last one revealed that at 129 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, Ramlochan was over the legal limit by 94 microgrammes.

Ramlochan pleaded for leniency, telling the magistrate that he stands to lose his job.

But Singh-Phillip told him that based on a recent Appeal Court decision upholding a jail term of a drunk driver, a reasonable starting point for a repeated offender in the circumstances of his case, would be one year. She afforded him a one-third discount for the guilty plead and a further two months because he was not actually driving.

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