A banned driver pleaded guilty – then disappeared to a rehab in Kenya for months.

Walter Kinuthia, 35, was behind the wheel of a Toyota Corolla on November 12 last year when he was said to have been driving at speed and ‘swerving dramatically’, almost hitting parked cars on Barton Road, Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard.

He was pulled over by police and was initially obstructive. He kept the door shut and initially gave a different name.

The officers eventually discovered his correct identity, discovering that he was disqualified from driving until 2024. They noticed open bottles of whisky in the car.

Taken to the police station, he refused to provide a breath sample to test whether or not he was over the drink-drive limit. “He says he’s not happy to provide and doesn’t trust the officer,” prosecutor Ann Sawyer-Brandish told Oxford Magistrates’ Court.

Mitigating, Bethan Chichester said her client had worked as a carer during the pandemic and witnessed a number of his clients die. “He was in the middle of a breakdown,” his advocate said. He had turned to alcohol.

Having admitted disqualified driving, driving with no insurance and failing to provide a breath sample when he appeared before the justices last November, Kinuthia, of Barton Road, Oxford, went absent without leave for eight months.

Ms Chichester said Kinuthia returned to Kenya, where he checked himself in to a mental health facility. He stopped drinking for five months and remained abstinent from alcohol.

He returned to the UK in August. “The day after he landed he handed himself in at court because he knew this was pending,” the solicitor said.

The magistrates sentenced him to 20 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for two years. He must abide by a 90 day alcohol abstinence tag and six month mental health treatment order. He was banned from driving for five years and ordered to pay £213 in costs and surcharge.

Chairman of the bench Kay Whitaker told the defendant: “This court takes driving whilst disqualified very seriously.

“There was a reason why you had been disqualified in the first place and you wilfully disobeyed that order and we heard when you were stopped you were driving at speed and fairly recklessly.”

Driving whilst disqualified carries a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment. Effectively a breach of a court order – a driving ban – it is typically viewed seriously by judges and justices.

The court heard Kinuthia had first been banned in 2013 for driving with excess alcohol in his system. He had subsequently been given further disqualifications for drink driving.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

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