Holidaymaker fined £3,000 for drink-driving

The States police received reports of an intoxicated man getting into a Skoda with a Swiss registration plate on Market Hill, St Aubin, at about 10.20 pm on Saturday, the Magistrate’s Court heard.

The driver, Stefan Nussbaumer, (43), from Zurich, decided to pull over when he realised he was too drunk to drive.

The car was found parked and locked at a bus stop at Mont Nicolle and the defendant was found nearby.

Nussbaumer failed a roadside breath test and later, at police headquarters, gave a reading of 84 mcg of alcohol in 100 ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcg.

The court heard that Nussbaumer had been drinking heavily after going fishing earlier in the day and had been asked to leave the Porthole Suites on Market Hill.

Advocate Catriona Fogarty, defending, said that the defendant had come over to Jersey for a short holiday before starting a new job.

She said that he was ‘monumentally embarrassed’ about spending two nights in custody, as he had never been in any sort of trouble before.

She added that her client planned to leave the Island by ferry on Thursday and told the court that he would have to get someone to drive his car on to the boat.

In sentencing, the Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, said: ‘This was a high level of alcohol and usually the court would consider making you do unpaid work.

‘However, in the circumstances a fine is appropriate.’ The defendant was also banned from driving for two years.

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