Supreme Court hears appeal with implications for hundreds of drink-driving prosecutions
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An appeal with implications for hundreds of drink-driving cases across the State has come before the Supreme Court.
The High Court last August quashed a drink-driving conviction which followed a trial where the prosecution failed to lead evidence on the chain of custody of a blood sample.
The applicant, Andrejs Ratinskis, had received a two-year driving ban and a €350 fine in the District Court.
A blood sample collected at a Garda station had been posted to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety (MBRS) the following day, but Garda evidence did not account for its storage or security in the meantime.
Ms Justice Sara Phelan found that the Road Traffic Act 2010 did not provide for “a presumption that the integrity of the specimen remained intact” and the need for the prosecution to adduce chain of custody evidence was therefore “not obviated”.
Her ruling has been appealed directly to the Supreme Court, which began hearing the case yesterday.
Ratinskis is represented by solicitor Pádraig Langsch and counsel Philip Sheahan SC and Liam Carroll BL.
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