A drink-driver has been handed an additional road ban after he refused to take part in a breath test when police arrived at his home.
Paul Cowie, 53, was hauled before Aberdeen Sheriff Court for failure to participate in the test when police officers suspected him of being over the limit.
Officers had arrived at Cowie’s home because they were concerned that he may have suffered a head injury while driving his work van.
Police were forced to break down the door when they received no answer.
Cowie, who runs a carpet cleaning firm based in Inverurie, was previously banned after being caught more than five times the legal alcohol limit last year.
Police arrived at Cowie’s home
Fiscal depute Andrew McMann told the court that on the evening of December 16 2022, police arrived at Cowie’s home on Victoria Street, Inverurie, due to concern for his welfare and on the suspicion he had been drink-driving.
Receiving no answer, the officer forced entry and found Cowie inside.
Upon checking him for a head injury, they noted a smell of alcohol on his breath, and they asked whether he had been driving.
Cowie replied “me” but then refused to take part in a breath test that would have confirmed he had been drink-driving.
Cowie pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to cooperate with a preliminary breath test and was found guilty of another charge of stealing a set of keys.
He was also convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards his former partner.
Further road ban for Inverurie businessman
He also admitted a charge of breaching a bail condition not to approach his former partner.
Cowie’s solicitor Marianne Milligan told the court that her client “does take responsibility for what he was found guilty of and what he pled to”.
She added: “There was a lot going on that night and he accepts he took a drink – he was disorientated.”
Mrs Milligan went on to inform the court that Cowie had been handed a three-year road ban by the court last year on a drink-driving charge.
As an alternative to prison, Sheriff Graham Buchanan made Cowie subject to a community payback order with supervision for 18 months and ordered him to carry out a total of 160 hours of unpaid work.
The sheriff also handed Cowie an additional driving disqualification for six months.
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