Cocaine driver 'should be dead' based on readings of 45 and 61 times over legal limit, court hears

Gordon Deegan

A judge has said that he doesn’t know how a west Clare man is alive after readings show that on two separate occasions he was 61 times and 45 times over the legal limit for cocaine while driving.

At Kilrush District Court, Judge Alec Gabbett said that the drug driving offending by Jonathan Kenny (36), formerly of Elm Drive, Kilrush and now of Querrin, Kilkee, “is very grave”.

Solicitor for Mr Kenny, Patrick Moylan, said that based on the cocaine readings before the court, Mr Kenny “should be dead”.

Judge Gabbett imposed a three-month prison term after Mr Kenny was found to be 46 times over the legal limit for cocaine - 2,292ng/ml - when detected driving on the wrong side of the road on Kilrush’s Moore Street on December 4th, 2024.

The legal limit for Benzoylecgonine (cocaine) driving is 50ng/ml, and Judge Gabbett said that this was 46 times over the limit.

Judge Gabbett also imposed a two-year driving ban on Mr Kenny.

Mr Kenny pleaded guilty to drug driving.

Judge Gabbett said that the three-month prison term is to run consecutive to a three-month prison term imposed last week on Mr Kenny when he was found to be 61 times over the legal limit on October 29th, 2024 at Lifford Rd, Ennis, where the reading showed 3,075ng/ml. Benzoylecgonine (cocaine) in his system.

Judge Gabbett said that on December 4th, 2024, Mr Kenny was “exceptionally intoxicated” while driving with the amount of cocaine he had consumed.

He said: “I know Mr Kenny disputes the levels, but I don’t know how he is alive if he has that much in his system. He has had two exceptionally high readings for drug driving.

“I dealt with a very serious case where someone had a very high reading for drugs, and that man died on the motorway with that level of reading, and he died in the car. When he died, three other people nearly died as well.

“This is a very serious issue for me and that is why it warrants a custodial sentence. With this level of reading, you could die while in the car and kill other road users."

The court was told Mr Kenny has 71 previous convictions.

Mr Kenny told Judge Gabbett that he was off the rails at the time, but says that now “I am trying my best, I really am”.

Mr Kenny said that he is hoping to spend his first Christmas with his first child.

Mr Kenny’s solicitor said that his client “has had a very difficult and troubled past and has done very well”.

He said that the Probation Report on his client “is one of the best I have seen”.

Mr Moylan said that Mr Kenny is father to an eight-month-old baby and “is doing his best to turn his life around|”.

Mr Moylan said: “He went through a bad patch and when you fall off the wagon in Kilrush, there is plenty of trouble to meet you.”

Judge Gabbett fixed terms for Mr Kenny appealing the prison term after fixing separate appeal terms last week to the first three-month prison term imposed.