Intoxicated brothers crash into wall on scooter
The criminal court hearing took place on Tuesday 6 February - © Google Street View
The man in his 30s was driving with four times the legal limit.
A tragedy was narrowly avoided on the evening of 16 July when two drunken brothers riding a scooter crashed into a wall in the IM2S tunnel and were thrown to the ground. “The scooter was found 100 metres beyond the point of collision,” said the presiding judge, Florestan Bellizona, on the day of the hearing. “When the police arrived at the scene of the accident, you were leaning over your brother, who was taken straight to the Pasteur hospital in Nice, to intensive care, bypassing the Princess Grace Hospital Centre, as his injuries were so serious.” The man’s life was hanging in the balance for several hours.
Advertising
The driver escaped with less serious injuries, primarily to his hands. When the officers asked him to blow into the breathalyser, the result was clear: with 1.04 milligrams of alcohol per litre of exhaled air, he was clearly breaking the law. “At such high levels, the risk of a fatal accident is multiplied by 80,” the magistrates told him. The man is from Menton and works a cook in a Monaco restaurant. He confessed to having drunk limoncello, several beers and a few shots. “We were at a friend’s birthday party, and I overindulged without thinking about the journey home,” he admitted.
Suspended prison sentence
The public prosecutor requested a suspended prison sentence of eight to ten months and a one-year ban on driving in the Principality for the man, who has previous convictions for damaging property. “It would have been a year’s imprisonment if the passenger had lost his life,” warned the public prosecutor, who rues the number of drink-driving cases in Monaco. “I was totally irresponsible and stupid,” said the defendant, who did not have a lawyer and who, when asked by the magistrates, answered that both brothers’ state of health had improved considerably.
The court followed the prosecution’s recommendations and sentenced the Frenchman to an eight-month suspended prison sentence, a one-year driving ban in Monaco and a €45 fine for speeding on the night of the incident.