| Young Mullagh driver gets 40 year ban |
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| Wednesday, 27 August 2008 10:50 | |||||||||
 A YOUNG DRIVER who tore at high speed past school children and led gardaí on a chase before abandoning his car and fleeing has been banned from driving for a total of 40 years. Patrick Murphy of Tiermane in Mullagh - who also had fines totalling €5,100 imposed - will only be off the road for a fraction of that time. He pleaded guilty in Ennis District Court to three charges of dangerous driving, six of having no insurance and a list of other charges, including having no driving licence, no tax, no NCT, no silencer and non-conforming number plates on various dates. The court heard that Murphy took off after being spotted by gardaí, speeding past school children walking home for lunch, sending dust and gravel flying and ignoring a stop sign, all the while being chased by a patrol car. He finally abandoned his Honda Civic and fled, the court heard. On other dates, he broke the wing mirror off a car coming against him and failed to stop and overtook a line of six cars including a car being driven by an off-duty garda on a continuous white line. On six dates during which gardaí stopped him, he had no insurance, driving licence or other paperwork for his car. When he previously appeared before Judge Leo Malone, the judge remanded Murphy in custody for a probation report, which was before the court yesterday. Judge Malone told Murphy’s solicitor, Patrick Moylan, that the report “is not very positive in your client’s favour”. The judge noted that the report stated that Murphy “attempted to blame the gardaí for his appearances before the court and to minimise his actions by saying that they were only Road Traffic Act charges”. Mr Moylan said that his client “did think he was insured - he had paid premiums and the insurance company gave him insurance but then withdrew it when he did not provide them with documentation in time. And the company gave him insurance and then withdrew it a number of times.” Mr Moylan said that his client had gone from “being a person with no previous convictions to being someone who has now spent six weeks in Limerick Prison.” Judge Malone imposed fines varying from €100 to €500 on each of the main charges, with driving bans varying from one year to seven years. While the bans total 40 years, they all begin on the same date so he is actually banned for a maximum of seven years. Sentences of between 15 and 45 days were imposed for every fine Murphy fails to pay. He refused the solicitor’s request that the unemployed man be given more than three months to pay all the fines. Judge Malone set bail for an appeal at Muphy’s own bond of €2,000 and a surety of €2,000 with a total of €2,000 to be lodged in cash.
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Colm
said:
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Show/Hide comments| It's fools like this that give drivers with sports cars a bad name Ban him and make sure he does not get back on the road for at least ten years | |
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rose
said:
this is a discrace 7yrs wow he will be back on roads in 3yrs if not next week  |
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