Youth "disgusted" with behaviour after drunken moped crash

Friday 17 January 2025

A 20-year-old who crashed his moped into a wall while three times the legal limit has said he is "disgusted" with his behaviour – particularly after the deaths of Dean and Charlie Lowe.

Appearing in the Magistrate's Court this week, Marco McCormick was banned from the roads for three years and given a 120-hour community service order.

The crash happened in the early hours of 14 November, when McCormick tried to ride home after drinking.

Witnesses said they saw McCormick riding the Yamaha scooter while "clearly drunk" – and without wearing a helmet

“He was unsteady on his feet. He was very wobbly, and swerving when he tried to drive away, and narrowly missed a parked car. He hit a wall in Clarence Road," St Helier Centenier Paul Huelin, prosecuting, told the court.

Mr Huelin said McCormick tried to leave the scene but was unable to run in his drunken state and was detained by a witness.

A police breath test showed he had 118 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal maximum is 35 millilitres.

The court also heard that he had previous convictions for speeding and driving without a licence.

Advocate Baglin said: “Mr McCormick is under no illusions and is aware that a custodial sentence is possible today.”

However he pointed out that McCormick pleaded guilty early and had said: “This is the stupidest thing I have ever done."

He said that his client was "disgusted" with his behaviour and was well aware of the serious risks of drinking and driving following Dylan Pounds’s conviction last year for causing the deaths of Dean and Charlie Lowe by dangerous driving. Mr Pounds was sentenced to 15 years in jail.

Relief Magistrate David Cadin agreed not to send McCormick to custody but told him: “You are extremely lucky no-one else was involved.”

In addition to his driving ban and community service order, McCormick was also fined £400 put on probation for six months.