The High Court has quashed Andrejs Ratinskis’s conviction for drink driving after ruling that the prosecution failed to prove what happened to his blood sample between its collection at Newbridge Garda station and its later posting for analysis.
Mr Ratinskis was stopped at a mandatory Garda checkpoint at about 11.12pm on August 20th, 2022. He requested a blood sample instead of providing a breath specimen and was brought to Newbridge Garda station, where a doctor took the sample at 12.37am the following morning.
The sample was divided into two sealed containers. Mr Ratinskis retained one. Garda Liam Houlihan placed the other, with the statutory form, in a marked cardboard box and later posted it to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety.
The Bureau certified an alcohol concentration of 126 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, above the permitted 50 milligrams. Mr Ratinskis was convicted in the District Court on January 10th, 2024 and received a two-year driving ban and a €350 fine.
His solicitor had argued that the prosecution had not accounted for the sample between 12.37am on August 21st and its posting on August 22nd. The District Court rejected that submission, relying on statutory presumptions governing blood samples and noting that the sample was sealed.
Ms Justice Phelan held that this went too far. The Road Traffic Act presumptions establish compliance with specified steps such as taking, sealing and forwarding a sample, but do not create a further presumption that the sample remained secure or free from interference while in Garda custody.
The prosecution therefore had to provide chain-of-custody evidence for that period. It was not for the accused to fill the evidential gap by cross-examining the Garda.
The High Court also held that judicial review was an appropriate remedy because the District Court had misconstrued the statutory presumptions. The conviction was quashed, with the question of any remittal to the District Court left for further argument.