Minister fined, disqualified from driving after DUI plea

Deputy Premier and Education Minister Rolston Anglin was fined $500 and disqualified from driving for 12 months on Tuesday morning after pleading guilty last year to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Charges of careless driving and driving whilst impaired were left on file.
Magistrate Kirsty-Ann Gunn also ordered him to pay costs to the Crown totalling $2,473. Of that amount, US$2,000 was for a forensic consultant who had prepared a report and who would have given evidence about alcohol-in-blood levels and medication.

Mr. Anglin tested at .110 approximately three hours after he was involved in a one-vehicle accident along West Bay Road in the early hours of 23 May 2012. The legal  limit in Cayman is .100.

Defence Attorney Steve McField told the court that on the day preceding the offences, Mr. Anglin had been working at his ministry. He was not feeling well and had not eaten much, but had taken cough medicine and Ferrol, a tonic to boost energy.

There was a function at one of the hotels and Mr. Anglin got a call that someone from Government had to attend, Mr. McField explained. He went to the function and consumed alcohol. The accident that followed did not cause any injuries to any third parties.

Mr. Anglin was remorseful, his attorney emphasised. After offering to attend a DUI-education programme, he had found out that the course offered through Cayman Counselling Centre was full. He therefore attended, at his own expense, a private programme run by local counsellor Terry Delaney, Mr. McField related. He handed up a certificate and report. “He expended $750 for the private rehabilitation programme to keep the promise he made to the court,” he explained.

Mr. McField noted that his client had no previous convictions, not even a traffic ticket. “Mr. Anglin has used his position to publicly state how wrong it was to drink and drive and how important it is to not break any law,” he added.
He asked that Mr. Anglin be treated as an ordinary first offender. He also asked for credit for the guilty plea, although it came after trial started, because it did save the court time.

Crown Counsel Renuka Rambhajan applied for costs based on expenses incurred by the Crown after being put on notice of the defence — that Mr. Anglin stated he had consumed medication as well as one light beer. In addition to the expert’s fee, she asked for US$528.05 for the expert’s plane ticket because it had to be paid for as a late cancellation. The cost of prosecution cost was CI$400, she noted. A chain link fence had been damaged in the incident, but no compensation had been applied for, she said.

The magistrate awarded all costs asked for. In passing sentence she accepted that Mr. Anglin had expressed remorse for the decision he took that night to drive, and she took into account his previous good character “as it would do for any other defendant who appears before this court”.

In balancing the aggravating and mitigating features of the case, she noted that neither Mr. Anglin nor his passenger nor any other party was injured. She agreed that his guilty plea, although it came after the trial started, did save the court time.

The most significant factor in sentencing was the blood-alcohol level, she said. A roadside test, which showed a level of .136, was only an indicator to the officer as to his reasonable suspicion of someone driving under the influence of alcohol. The court sentenced on the confirmed reading obtained on equipment at the police station, she explained.

 Read our article from March 26, 2013 here.