Longford man who crashed car and fell asleep in back seat jailed for five months

Andrius Venclauskas (34) of 7 An Rah Beag, Abbeylara, Longford was charged with drink driving and driving without a drivers licence or insurance on August 26, 2023.

Sergeant Conor McShane gave details of the charges that brought the defendant before Judge Bernadette Owens.

At 11:30pm Garda Higgins responded to a call regarding a two vehicle road traffic collision at Balloo, Granard, Longford. When the officer got there they found two vehicles, a Peugeot and a Kia, who had been in a head on collision.

It appeared that the Peugeot was on the wrong side of the road, The driver of the Kia said they were on their way to Lysryan when the Peugeot collided with them head on. They said the driver got out of the front seat of the vehicle and got into the back seat and fell asleep. The driver of the car on the correct side called the Gardaí.

Garda Higgins went to the back seat of the Peugeot and woke the sleeping man. There was a strong smell of alcohol and when the officer spoke to him Mr Venclauskas' speech was slurred. The defendant was brought to Longford Garda station.

Initially Mr Venclauskas refused to give a sample, but eventually relented and this returned a reading of 57 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

Sgt McShane said the defendant has 22 previous convictions and was serving a six year driving ban at the time of the incident.

Solicitor Fiona Baxter, acknowledged her client's “appalling road traffic record”. Ms Baxter said the father of two has been living in Ireland for the last 16 years. The solicitor said Mr Venclauskas was in full time employment up until recently, when he received a five month custodial sentence in Cavan District Court for other motoring offences.

“This is his first time in custody. He is due for release in December, but he has only had telephone contact with his family since going to prison. The penny has truly dropped for him,” Ms Baxter told the judge.

The court heard that the latest conviction will trigger a four month suspended sentence previously imposed in Mullingar District Court. Taking the facts of the case into consideration Judge Owens imposed a five month custodial sentence for the drunk driving, and a four month sentence for the driving without insurance.

The prison terms are to be served consecutive to the custodial sentence Mr Venclauskas is serving, meaning his Longford District Court sentence will commence in December.

The defendant also received a driving ban for 10 years. Mr Venclauskas was before Mullingar District Court on September 21 to have the other suspended sentence matter concluded.