A Pembroke man found with open beer bottles in his car has been banned from driving for a year.

Jakai Harford, 35, was stopped by police at about 12.40am on September 2.

Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday that officers in an unmarked police car saw Harford pull on to Malabar Road from Woody’s Drive without stopping.

The police pulled him over and noticed he had three beer bottles in the car, two of which were open.

Harford admitted that he had been drinking that evening and provided a breath sample, which showed he had 176 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, more than double the legal limit.

He also told officers that he did not have a valid driving licence.

Harford pleaded guilty to driving while over the legal blood-alcohol limit and without a licence.

Prosecutors said Harford had appeared before the courts for a range of offences, but had no similar convictions for drinking and driving.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo fined Harford $1,100 for the offences and banned him from driving all vehicles for one year.

Also appearing in court was Errol Knights, 62, who pleaded guilty to refusing a request to provide a blood sample.

The court heard Knights, from Devonshire, was on his motorcycle on the afternoon of September 1 when he was involved in a collision with a car on Palmetto Road.

Emergency service workers who responded said Knights was incoherent and smelled of alcohol. He was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where officers requested a blood sample.

Knights said: “I’m in hospital. I’m on drugs. That won’t work in court.” But a doctor said there was no reason why he could not provide a sample.

Mr Tokunbo fined Knights $1,000 and banned him from driving for one year.

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