A Ballygawley man has been fined at court after he was caught driving with an alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit following a single-vehicle crash.

Dawinda Marchaewski, 29, of Cavey Road, Ballygawley, appeared before District Judge Francis Rafferty charged with driving while having consumed excess alcohol in breath, and driving without due care and attention.

The court heard that police were called to a collision on Whitebridge Road in Ballygawley around midnight on 2 May. Officers found Marchaewski still seated in the driver's seat, with the vehicle's airbags deployed after it had left the road and ended up in a hedge.

Police observed that there was a smell of alcohol coming from inside the car and from the defendant. They also noted his eyes were glazed and his speech was slurred.

Marchaewski told officers he had consumed two pints before driving home and lost control of the vehicle. He was arrested and taken to Craigavon Area Hospital, where he provided an evidential breath specimen that recorded an alcohol count of 96 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Judge Rafferty imposed a fine of £250 plus a £15 offender levy for the drink-driving charge, and a further £100 fine for driving without due care and attention.

When the defence asked the court to give credit for the defendant's honesty with police, Judge Rafferty remarked that if Marchaewski had only consumed two pints, they must have been unusually large.

The defendant works as a welder at a local factory and the court was told that he no longer has a vehicle.