Donegal Garda remanded on bail after pleading guilty to drunk driving and dangerous driving

 
A serving Donegal Garda stationed at Carrickmacross has been remanded on continuing bail after he pleaded guilty to two charges of drunken driving and another charge of dangerous driving in Co. Monaghan on two dates last year.
30 year old Kevin McLaughlin, with addresses at Gartan, Churchill, Letterkenny and 30 Woodvale, Carrickmacross was remanded on bail to allow for the preparation of a Probation Service report and a psychological report.
The Prosecution told the Court that on the 20th of March last year, Mr McLaughlin, who was a serving Garda based in the area, was driving his own car which crashed into a Garda vehicle that was stopped on the roadside at Moyles outside Monaghan town.
Two gardai at the scene were injured – one seriously.
McLaughlin was arrested and found to have reading of 290 milligrams of alcohol in his blood.
In relation to the second drunken driving charge, the prosecution said the serving Garda was intercepted as he drove from the Garda Station at Carrickmacross on August 16th last year.
He was again found to have an alcohol level above the legal limit.
Defence Counsel said McLaughlin had service of eight years in the Gardaí and had previously completed three years with the Defence Forces.
He accepted he had a problem with alcohol but had since sought help – he also apologized profusely for what happened.
Judge Denis McLoughlin accepted a suggestion from the defence lawyer to refer Kevin McLaughlin to the Probation Service for a report and he was remanded on continuing bail.