A St George’s man who crashed his car close to home after he celebrated his birthday was today fined a total of $2,000 and taken off the roads for 18 months.

Magistrates’ Court heard this morning that police officers attended a single-vehicle crash on Mullet Bay Road in the early hours of February 18.

They saw a silver car pinned against a tree with extensive damage to the front and defendant Sinclair Gibbons sitting beside the car, bleeding from his lip.

The officers could smell alcohol on his breath and his speech was slurred.

The court heard that he then told them he was “somewhere in Southampton” despite being about 100ft from his home.

Gibbons also told them that is was his birthday and that he’d had “a few drinks”.

He was taken to hospital, where samples of his blood were taken for analysis.

It was found that he had 200 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood — more than twice the legal limit of 80mg.

His blood also tested positive for cannabinoids.

Gibbons pleaded guilty to driving while impaired and also to driving with a “dangerous drug” in his system.

He apologised to the court, repeated that it was his birthday and said that he had been out a bit too late.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo fined Gibbons $1,200 for driving while impaired and $800 for driving with a dangerous drug in his system.

He also disqualified him from driving all vehicles for 18 months on both counts, but said the sentences should run concurrently.

In a separate matter, a 53-year-old Sandys man was also banned from driving after he refused to provide a blood sample for analysis.

The court heard that Alfred Bulford was involved in a two-vehicle crash between a van and a water truck on Mangrove Bay Road near the junction with East Shore Road at about 9.50pm on June 19.

Bulford was identified as the van driver and officers noticed that he was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and his eyes were glazed.

He told officers that he’d had some rum swizzle but insisted that he was not drunk. But Bulford refused to provide a sample for analysis.

Mr Tokunbo fined Bulford $800 and banned him from driving all vehicles for 12 months.

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