An environmental scientist who was several times over the legal drink-drive limit when she collided with a cyclist in Dublin has been banned from driving for five years.
Rebecca Griffith, 34, of Blackheath Park, Clontarf, Dublin, who also received fines totalling €1,500, had been drinking vodka from a 7Up bottle in her car before the collision on Malahide Road on August 17, 2023. She pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to drunk driving and careless driving.
The cyclist, 34, had been heading toward Artane shortly before 5pm when Griffith struck him from behind. The impact sent the man over the handlebars, and he landed on the road in front of her Opel Astra.
Another cyclist assisted him, and an ambulance brought him to hospital for a CAT scan and a tetanus injection; he suffered bruising and a concussion. Griffith provided gardai with a sample, giving a reading of 407 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of urine.
In a victim impact statement, the cyclist described how he was now nervous on his bicycle, felt vulnerable, and suffered from occasional flashbacks. He said he still suffered pain and discomfort.
He was off work for two weeks and his expenses were €700; the court heard that he had also received a civil settlement from a compensation claim. Defence counsel Emmett Nolan told Judge Grainne Malone his client was lucky not to have caused serious injury and be facing a more severe charge.
Griffith issued an unreserved apology through her barrister and in a letter brought to court. The defence acknowledged the drink-drive reading was quote "extraordinarily high", and it had been obvious to gardai in the aftermath that she had consumed alcohol.
Mr Nolan stressed that his client had suffered from a bad alcohol addiction and had been drinking the night before the incident. On the day of the collision, she had been working, surveying a Trinity College, and finished at 3 o'clock.
She visited her sister, but they had a row, and she left. The court heard she bought a bottle of vodka and poured it into a 7Up bottle. The barrister disclosed that his client was highly educated and travelled; she had studied environmental science at Trinity College and worked in that field.
A letter from her doctor showing confirmed she was on antidepressant medication. Counsel explained that the accused's drink problem began several years ago when she worked in a well-known late-night eatery in Dublin, and staff would have drinks after closing time.
The court heard she used alcohol as a coping mechanism, but her family hoped that she would abstain from drinking and engage with services to help her deal with the issue. Pleading for leniency, the barrister had asked the court to treat it as an aberration by a young woman who made a significant error in her life but otherwise had a lot going for her.
Griffith had no previous convictions and was going to counselling. Ahead of sentencing, a probation report was ordered along with a request for information about the compensation awarded in the civil proceedings.
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