A man who paid a garda €190 to get him to drop a drink-driving case was given a one-month suspended prison sentence yesterday.
Ian Bloomer (29), Oaklands Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin, was also fined after he pleaded guilty to corruptly paying the garda not to carry out his duties under the Road Traffic Act between October and December 1999.
Dublin District Court was told Bloomer, a service engineer with a Limerick telecommunications company, was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving in August 1999 and gave a specimen of blood which had more than twice the legal alcohol limit.
Summonses in the case were applied for and later contact was made between Bloomer and the prosecuting garda.
Further details on the case were not given to the court yesterday after Judge Miriam Malone said she was concerned they might affect the trial of the garda involved, who is facing corruption charges.
She asked that the name and address of the garda not be published.
Det Insp Seamus Keane told Luan O'Braonain, defending, that prior to this case, Bloomer was a man of good character.
He had learned "a salutary lesson" and was taken aback as the matter evolved and the amount of attention the case had drawn.
Had the drink-driving matter proceeded as normal, the penalty on conviction would have been a driving ban and a fine and the only people who would have known about it would probably have been himself, his family and the gardaí, the inspector said.
Mr John Heavey, secretary of Merrion Cricket Club, told the court Bloomer had run the club's bar for three years and had responsibility for large amounts of cash.
"When I first read about [this case] I was very shocked and from my knowledge of him I felt it was completely out of character', Mr Heavey said.
Mr O'Braonain asked the court to deal with his client as leniently as possible. Bloomer had offered to assist gardaí in the case involving the garda and had "faced up to the matter" as best he could. There were serious consequences for his reputation, Mr O'Braonain noted.
After reading references from his current employer, a previous employer and a football club, Judge Malone said she took these into account along with his guilty plea, his clean record and the evidence given by Mr Heavey.
The court heard the penalties available were a fine of euro €1,269 and or 12 months' imprisonment.
Judge Malone imposed a fine of €700 and ordered the one-month prison sentence be suspended on condition Bloomer entered a bond to keep the peace for 12 months.