Traces of cocaine found in driver’s car after he was stopped by police
AN Adamsdown man has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and refusing to take a breath test, despite admitting to police that he was “over the limit, plain and simple”.
Klaudijus Lukosius, 24, was sentenced at Cardiff Magistrates Court on Tuesday to a 12-month community order and 120 hours of unpaid work. He was also disqualified from driving for 40 months.
Lukosius, of Constellation Street, Cardiff, was stopped by police on Clifton Street on February 24 for driving erratically. After running a check on the vehicle, officers found it was uninsured.
The police found open bottles of vodka in the car, and a bag with trace amounts of cocaine.
Lukosius told the officers: “I’m over the limit, plain and simple.” However, he refused to take a breath test at the scene or at the police station after he was arrested.
“If he could wind the clock back to February I think he would be embarrassed,” said Tim Petrides, defending.
“He is aware of what could have happened. He knows that he could have crashed his car and that others could have been harmed.”
“He is utterly ashamed and embarrassed, he didn’t want to watch the CCTV footage, even though I said he should.”
Prosecutor Robert Reid said the defendant was clearly inebriated during the incident, describing him as “unsteady on his feet and with glazed eyes”.
Lukosius accepted full responsibility for the offence, which he described as a “wake-up call”. He claimed the loss of his job and a six-week lay-up due to injury led to him drinking daily and using cocaine “as a coping mechanism”.
Magistrate Ms Rachel Parkin also made a rehabilitation order and made Lukosius pay court costs of £180.
