Lawyer challenges breathalyser law

“Medically, it cannot linger the finger,” attorney Ainsley Lucky told senior magistrate Rajendra Rambachan in the San Fernando Magistrates’ court in making a plea in mitigation for Allan Kamchan.

Kamchan was charged on Friday last with driving under the influence at Bonne Aventure, Gasparillo. He pleaded guilty and Lucky represented the man after the police court prosecutor, Dane Sorzano, disclosed that when tested, Kamchan was found to have 113 microgrammes of alcohol in his blood.

Lucky took issue with the Breathalyser law which was introduced in December, 2009, telling Rambachan that we live in an alcohol culture and the volume of alcohol would vary from person to person. “Two beers cannot hurt an old man and having one level for every driver appears an unfair application of this law,” said Lucky.

Rambachan asked the attorney to back-up his claim with scientific evidence and the attorney said that he had done research in Canada on the subject. Kamchan said he was 30 years old and apologised for drinking and opting to drive a truck ..

Rambachan ordered he pay $5,300 and disqualified him from driving for eight months.