Drunk driver jailed for 30 days

Larnaca district court on Friday handed down a 30-day prison sentence to a 43-year-old man who crashed into another car while driving 14 times over the legal limit in Larnaca.

The court also suspended his licence for four months and penalised him with eight penalty points.

Head of Larnaca’s traffic police Haris Hajiyiasemi said that at around 2 pm on Thursday, as the 43-year-old Larnaca resident was driving on Spyros Kyprianou Avenue towards the Ammochostos roundabout, he failed to notice that the car in front of him had stopped at a red traffic light and collided into it. That car in turn hit the vehicle in front of it, that was also waiting for the light to change.

There were no injuries, but all three cars were damaged.

Initial alco-test results by Larnaca traffic police officers who attended the scene showed 129 mg, significantly above the 9 mg permitted maximum because he is a new driver.

He was taken to Larnaca police station where two further tests were carried out with readings of 127 and 131 mg.

The driver appeared before Larnaca district court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Earlier on Friday police said they had caught a 28-year-old man driving 191 km per hour on the motorway while eight times over the legal limit late on Thursday and would be filing the case in court immediately.

Two other cases concerning serious traffic offences were submitted for immediate trial on Wednesday. The first was against a 22-year-old woman for drunk driving and causing an accident in the Larnaca district and the second against a 20-year-old driver for speeding and drunk driving.

Larnaca district court stripped the woman of her licence for three months, imposed seven penalty points and fined her €1000 after she pleaded guilty to the charges.

In the second case, the 20-year-old man appeared before Paphos district court which suspended his licence until the trial.