Telford drink-driver left crash scene when police were called
A drink-driver who was recently bereaved crashed his car into the back of another at a junction as his concentration lapsed, a court was told.
Samuel Kodzo Azumah was found to be more than four times the legal drink-drive limit following the accident on February 2.
Azumah, 36, initially stayed at the scene of the crash in Haybridge Road, Telford. But when the other driver, who received neck injuries from the impact, contacted the police he drove off, leaving officers to trace his address in Ash Lea Drive, Donnington, via the car's number plate.
Miss Abigail Hall, prosecuting, told Telford Magistrates Court that officers arrived at the defendant's address 50 minutes after the accident and saw Azumah's car with "severe front end damage" parked in the driveway.
Azumah was found "heavily intoxicated" lying awake on his bed upstairs but was unable to give a breath sample to officers, said the prosecutor.
He was arrested but failed to give the minimum two readings at the police station, claiming he had asthma, the court was told.
Azumah pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to provide a breath specimen and another of driving without due care and attention when he appeared at court.
Miss Hall added that one reading provided by Azumah while at the police station was 148 microgrammes – the legal limit for driving being 35 microgrammes in 100 millilitres breath. She said nurses who examined Azumah found "no medical reason why the defendant could not supply".
The court was told that Azumah had been convicted of a similar offence of failing to supply a breath specimen in 2012.
Magistrates disqualified him from driving for 12 months and fined him £250 for failing to provide a specimen, and a further £50 for driving without due care and attention. He was ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £25 victim surcharge.
Mr Chris Grainger, for Azumah, said the defendant's high alcohol reading could be explained by the fact that he had come home upset by the accident and had then drunk half a pint of home brew and some shots.
Had the defendant supplied a second reading, further scientific expertise would still have been needed to calculate his level would have been at the time of the accident, said Mr Grainger.
He said Azumah accepted full responsibility for the accident. He had been in the process of making arrangements for his father's funeral and "his mind was thinking about other things".
Azumah had believed the car in front was due to pull out as the road was clear, but it had remained in place and he had absent-mindedly driven into the back of it.
