Caught driving while intoxicated for the second time: Mykolaiv driver fined 17,000 hryvnias
Caught a second time, but punished as if it were the first: the Korabelnyi Court examined the case of Andriy Andriyovych Dovhal
At the Korabelnyi District Court of Mykolaiv a case was considered to bring to administrative responsibility Dovhal Andriy Andriyovych, who was stopped for the second time within a year on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol while driving.
As the court established, the incident occurred on 09.11.2025 at about 20:40 on Bohoyavlenskyi Avenue in the area of building No.191a. The man was driving a Hyundai Tucson with obvious signs of intoxication — a strong smell of alcohol was coming from him, and speech and coordination impairments were observed. The police offered him to undergo an examination on site or at a medical facility, but the driver refused.
The case materials confirmed the guilt: the protocol, the referral for examination and bodycam video where the refusal to take the test is recorded. Such actions, according to the law, are equated to driving while intoxicated.
The court paid particular attention to the fact that this was not the first offense. Previously, 12.12.2024, Dovhal Andriy Andriyovych had already been found guilty under the same article — then he was fined 17 000 UAH and deprived of his driver’s license for one year.
Although the new offense was committed again within a year, which would fall under the stricter part of the article, the court could not reclassify the case. The reason was a police error: they drew up the protocol under Part 1 of Article 130 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (КУпАП). By law, the court does not have the right to increase the severity of the penalty if this worsens the person’s situation.
In the end, the court found Dovhal Andriy Andriyovych guilty and imposed the following punishment:
- a fine of 17 000 hryvnias
- deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for 1 year
The court also exempted him from paying the court fee because he is a person with a Group II disability.
In fact, despite the repeat offense, the man avoided a harsher punishment precisely because of errors in the way the law enforcement officers prepared the case materials.
