A former County Councillor who refused to give a breath sample to Gardaí after his arrest on suspicion of drink driving, and asked to speak to the Superintendent “to sort it out”, had a conviction marked against him when he appeared before Clifden District Court on Thursday.

Michael Molloy, solicitor for Josie Conneely (56), with an address at Mannin, Ballyconneely, claimed that the Garda witnesses had infringed on his client’s constitutional rights when, in one instance, they purposefully pursued the car only because of who was driving it.

However, Judge Mary Fahy did not agree and she proceeded to mark convictions against Conneely for dangerous driving at Ardbear, Clifden on March 13 last, and for refusing to give a breath sample at the Garda Station.

The matter could not be finalised, however, and had to be adjourned to next month as the defendant disputed the State’s records that he had two previous convictions for the same type of offence in 1999 and 1989 – he claimed that the latter was overturned on appeal.

Garda Dean Landers and Garda Owen Millar were on routine patrol in the early hours of March 13 when they heard the “roar” of a vehicle revving very loudly in the town centre. They then saw a black Mercedes driving at high speed through the junction of Hulk Street and Bridge Street, without heeding the yield sign.

They pursued the car, which was travelling in the direction of Ballyconneely, but it took them some time to catch up with it, due to its speed. They saw the same car swerve over the wrong side of the road.

The vehicle eventually came to a stop at Clifden Community College, and Garda Millar was the first to recognise the car as belonging to the defendant.

Garda Landers said that after making a number of attempts to take the roadside test, to detect the presence of alcohol, Mr Conneely failed it and was arrested at 4.55am under suspicion of drink driving.

See full report in this week's Connacht Tribune.