his Supreme Court appeal of a 1991 traffic conviction is upheld.

Stephen Harold Moniz was stopped by Police in the early morning hours of May 24, 1991, as he drove along South Road in Paget.

He was charged in Magistrates' Court the following month with driving while impaired and having a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.

The 24-year-old was found guilty on the second count because an alco-analyser showed more than 100 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. He received a $600 fine and was banned from driving for 18 months.

But the first charge was dismissed because Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis said testimony by the arresting officer had raised reasonable doubts about the events of that evening.

The officer, P.c. White, testified that while sitting in a stationary Police car outside the After Hours Restaurant on South Road in Paget, he saw another car strike the opposite retaining wall before continuing up the hill.

P.c. White said he turned his car around and followed the other vehicle, eventually causing it to stop at the Paraquet Restaurant further down the road. The driver of the car was positively identified as Moniz.

Moniz' lawyer, Mr. Kim White, told Chief Justice Sir James Astwood that the first charge of driving while impaired was thrown out because of the testimony of another officer who said P.c. White was at the Ice Queen Restaurant in Paget when Moniz' car hit the wall.

Crown Counsel Mr. Mark Pettingill called the arguments "nonsensical'', and said there was no question about who was driving the car. He said the statements by the officers, which were described as "ambiguous'' in the lower court, had nothing to do with Moniz' high alco-analyser reading. Sir James adjourned the case until later this week, when he will announce his decision.