A Dublin man, who ran from his Audi “covered in cocaine” after a Garda chase around an affluent area of North Dublin, has been jailed.
Finglas native, Scott Capper (37) became involved in the chase after Garda Martin Grundy spotted his vehicle travelling with “excessive speed” with a female passenger at 11:45pm on the 3rd of January last.
Prosecuting counsel, Rebecca Smith BL, outlined how, when Garda Grundy singled for the Audi to stop, Capper attempted to evade the patrol car by driving onto Station Road.
After Capper drove into a cul de sac, Garda Grundy used his vehicle to block the road, however Capper drove straight for him, causing the officer to take evasive action to avoid injury.
The white Audi mounted the footpath and sped off, the court heard.
Another police vehicle which was in the area, driven by Garda Thomas Howard, radioed to Garda Grundy that he would join the chase, but Capper drove straight towards this vehicle, causing Garda Howard to take evasive action.
The Audi then drove out of the Bin Eadair estate and made off in the direction of Baldoyle where it continued to travel at high speed before being stopped at St. Margaret’s Road.
When the car stopped, Gardaí observed a male all dressed in black with, white powder falling off him, run from the vehicle.
A foot pursuit ensued, with Capper eventually running into the curtilage of a garden where CCTV captured him throwing small bags, later confirmed to be cocaine, over a wall.
Gardaí arrested Capper shortly before midnight and he was conveyed to Clontarf Garda Station where he made “a number of admissions”, including taking ownership of the cocaine, which the court heard was valued at 5,775.
Capper has a history of offending including 29 road traffic offences, 11 Misuse of Drugs Act offences, 10 for Public Order, 2 for fraud, 3 for breaches of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 3 for breaches of the Bail Act, 2 offences committed while in prison, and 1 foreign conviction.
Judge Martin Nolan heard that Capper, who had a promising career as a professional football player before a ligament injury ended this dream, has a “significant” cocaine habit.
Garda Grundy accepted that it was not the intention of the accused to “endanger life”, but that he “wanted to get away” from Gardaí.
Defending councils, Oisín Clarke BL, said that at the time of the chase his client was effectively experiencing “cocaine psychosis” and that his family were “concerned for his safety”, and that during a previous stint in prison, he had uses the drug everyday and had come out “worse than when he went in” as he had been “ingesting huge amounts of cocaine”.
After he “snapped a ligament” he turned to drugs and alcohol, the court heard.
Judge Nolan said that on the night in question, Capper “knew he had drugs and decided to make an escape” by “driving very dangerously” while there were “drugs all over him”.
Capper was “high on drugs as well”, the court said.
Asking rhetorically, “Do I think he’ll change?” he said, “I don’t know,” noting the “serious enough misbehaving” involved in the incident.
Capper was sentenced to 27 months in prison to be backdated to the 4th of January. He also received a mandatory disqualification from driving for 4 years.