Driving fine reduced from €1,300 to €23 on appeal

An appeals court has reduced a fine handed to a 56-year-old man after concluding that the prosecution had based its case on two officers' sense of smell.

Raymond Debono had been charged with drunk driving, failing to submit to a breathalyser test and driving at night without his lights on, following a December 2013 nighttime traffic accident.

The case was decided in March last year, with Debono being found guilty of driving under the influence in an unlit vehicle. He had been acquitted of failing to submit to the breathalyser test however, after the court noted that he had suffered grievous injuries as a result of the accident and was experiencing difficulty breathing.

Debono had been ordered to pay a fine of €1,300 and had his driving licence suspended for six months.

But in a judgement handed down this morning, Madam justice Edwina Grima criticised the lack of scientific evidence in obtaining Debono's conviction.

Whilst it was true that one witness had testified that Debono had been slurring his speech and had appeared to have trouble maintaining his balance, the court noted that none of the evidence tendered by the police officers who called at the scene corroborated this.

In the absence of a breathalyser test, the officers had concluded that Debono was drunk because he could not stand up and his breath had a “light” odour of alcohol, the court was told. Besides this, there had been no evidence that he had consumed any alcohol during the evening, said the court.

The court pointed out the fact that the accused had difficulty standing up may have been due to the fact that he had suffered grievous injuries in a car crash moments before.

In evaluating the evidence, the court said it was “very difficult...to reach the conclusion that the appellant had been in a state of not being in complete control of his vehicle, even momentarily, due to the consumption of alcohol...This court cannot reach a guilty verdict on the basis of what probably was, but only on evidence proving wrongdoing beyond reasonable doubt.”

Debono was aquitted of driving under the influence of alcohol and the €1,300 fine was consequently revoked.

As the appellant had not brought any evidence to support his contestation of the charge of driving with his headlights off, the court fined the man €23 for this contravention.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta appeared for Debono.