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Drink-driver crashed head-on into car in Old Dover Road, Canterbury
13:13, 10 November 2022
A drink-driver who collided head-on with another vehicle while almost four times the legal limit was found sitting on a park bench after fleeing the scene.
Robert Avili, 48, crashed his Vauxhall Astra into an oncoming car in Old Dover Road, Canterbury, before driving off.
Police were called and, a short while later, spotted the car abandoned in Martyrs' Field Road. Avili was found sitting on a bench in a park nearby.
Officers confirmed he was the registered keeper of the Astra and suspected he had been drinking.
He underwent a roadside breath test, which gave a reading of 136 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Avili was arrested and taken to a police station, where he was asked to give two further breath samples.
But he started shouting and refusing to co-operate with officers.
During interview, he told officers he was not involved in the accident in July last year, but a witness who had seen it unfold identified him as the driver.
Avili, of Keats Corner, Canterbury, was charged with failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
He initially denied the offence when he appeared before magistrates in Folkestone, but when he appeared at the same court in September this year for trial, he pleaded guilty.
Magistrates placed him on an interim driving ban and adjourned the hearing for a pre-sentencing report to be carried out.
Avili returned to the court to be sentenced on November 2.
Julie Farbrace, prosecuting, told magistrates Avili had been convicted of being drunk on an aircraft in 2018, and had received a suspended sentence.
She also said he had a previous conviction for failing provide a specimen, but that was more than 10 years ago.
The court also heard he was suffering a personal crisis when he crashed the car after losing his job and facing issues with his family, but that he had not drunk alcohol for almost a year.
Magistrates jailed Avili for 90 days for the offence, but suspended the term for 12 months.
They also banned him from driving for three years and ordered he wear an alcohol abstinence tag for three months, compete 15 rehabilitation sessions with probation and pay £620 costs and a victim surcharge of £128.
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