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Carn "drifter" fined €1,000
25.06.07
An industrious young
plasterer has been fined €1,000 for dangerous
driving in Carndonagh earlier this year.
Matthew Doherty, Gortyarn, Carn, was also put off
the road for one month - a much reduced
disqualification, because the defendant, who was
employing people at a very young age, needed his
licence for work.
Doherty pleaded guilty to making a dangerous
manoeuvre in his highly modified car at the
roundabout at the Station Road/Malin Road junction,
on February 4th, 2007.
It was 5 O'Clock in the afternoon and a number of
people were milling around at the time, Judge Derek
McVeigh heard.
Garda Seamus Lyons said he was parked at Station
Road when he heard a car with its loud exhaust
coming at speed. He then witnessed the 20 year old
defendant, with one passenger on board, drive on to
the roundabout before "drifting" back up Station
Road. Garda Lyons described "drifting" for the court
as a controlled handbrake manoeuvre that resulted in
a twisting of the vehicle to let the back end slide
ahead of the front. He pursued the car, a modified
vehicle known as an 'Evo', until it was unsafe to do
so. Nearly a week later, the defendant went by
appointment to the Garda station.
Defence solicitor Philip White said his client had
worked from the age of 14 and while he had
previously employed two labourers, he now employed
one. He travelled long distances, mainly to Galway,
for plastering contracts and worked 12 hour days.
Mr. White conceded that his client's car, with its
sports exhaust, was "more suited to the race track
than the open road". But he pleaded for leniency
saying a driving ban would effectively render his
client unemployed.
Judge McVeigh said he must impose an "ancillary
disqualification" given the seriousness of the
charge. He imposed a ban of one month adding: "He
should see what a privilege it is to have a licence
and to treat it responsibly". |
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