Man convicted after PSNI officer nabs pair

Man convicted after PSNI officer nabs pair

25 July 2012

AN Annsborough woman stormed out of her home wrapped in a pink dressing gown after an early morning row with her boyfriend, a court has been told.

The man followed her in his car and the strange sight of the distressed woman walking in the middle of the road followed by a slow moving car was spotted by an off-duty policeman on his way to work.

The boyfriend was 30 year-old Mark McKay who appeared at Downpatrick District Court on Monday and was convicted of a series of offences, including failing to provide a breath specimen, drink driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and resisting police.

McKay was seen driving the car slowly on the Ballylough Road near Annsborough shortly after 5.30am on December 22 last year by the policeman.

The PSNI officer said he stopped to enquire if everything was all right after seeing the woman walking in front of the car looking “extremely upset”. He said the woman acknowledged she had been arguing with her boyfriend.

The officer said McKay verbally abused him when he approached the car, however, and told the court he also noticed a smell of alcohol from the vehicle.

With both the defendant and his girlfriend then acting in an aggressive manner, he said he leaned in and removed the keys from the ignition and returned to his car, before locking it and phoning police for back-up.

The court heard McKay returned with his girlfriend to her nearby house, and was identified by the original officer to police who arrived a short time later. Refusing to be breathalysed he struggled with police before being taken into custody.

McKay told the court had been with friends that night and that his girlfriend woke up in the night to find the friends missing and her car moved to the end of their lane, close to the main road.

He said he got up to secure the car and warn any passing traffic it could obstruct but was only standing behind the car, not in the car.

McKay’s girlfriend backed up his version of events. She said she was upset with him due to the people he had brought back to the house and what she felt they had done to her car.

Adamant McKay hadn’t been driving, she claimed the policeman had simply driven off with her keys and that officers did not listen to her version of events.

A prosecutor questioned why she had not given a statement on this version of events before now and pointed out that the policeman had only stopped out of concern for her. The prosecutor also questioned why a 999 call she claimed to have made after noticing her car had been moved could not be traced.

Deputy District Judge Mr. Terence Dunlop said the accounts of both the defendant and his girlfriend were “implausible” and praised the police officer involved.

“He is to be commended for stopping on his way to work to come to the aid of a woman in distress,” he said.

A defence barrister acknowledged McKay, of Bridge Street, Rostrevor, had an “extensive record”. Sentencing was adjourned until August 2 for the preparation of pre-sentence reports.