A Hamilton Parish man has been given a three-year road ban for committing a second drink-driving offence within a span of two years.

Appearing in Magistrates’ Court this morning, Daemon Bell, 42, admitted refusing to provide a sample of breath for analysis on June 29.

The Crown accepted his plea and offered no evidence on the alternative charge of having care and control of a vehicle while his ability to drive was impaired.

Prosecutor Alan Richards said police officers approached a parked car with the lights on and the engine running, on the eastbound side of Palmetto Road, Devonshire.

The unresponsive driver was woken up and the officers noted that he appeared to be intoxicated.

Bell was arrested and taken to Hamilton Police Station, where he refused to take a breathalyser test.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo said this was Bell’s second impaired driving offence within two years — he has a previous conviction dating back to September 2013.

Mr Tokunbo fined him $1,500 and disqualified him from driving all vehicles for three years.

In a separate matter, 64-year-old Michael McGowan was banned from the roads for a year for the same offence.

McGowan, of Smith’s, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a sample of breath on June 23.

The Crown offered no evidence on the alternative charge of driving while impaired.

Mr Richards said police officers’s attention was drawn to a car being driven eratically and hitting the sidewalk near Shelley Bay as it headed east on North Shore Road, Smith’s.

The car stopped and as they turned the police car around, they saw McGowan get out of the driver’s side and stumble to the passenger’s side.

When they approached him and asked if he was the driver and if he had been drinking, he replied “yes” to both.

He was taken to Hamilton Police Station, where he refused to provide a breath sample.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo handed him an $800 fine and banned him from driving all vehicles for a year.

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