‘Day of reckoning’ arrives for disqualified driver

A 39-year-old man who had three previous convictions for driving without insurance and was now before the court for a similar offence was told by a judge at Trim District Court that “the day of reckoning has arrived”.

Gary McCaffrey, Cois Glaisin Park, Johnstown, Navan appeared in court on a charge of driving without insurance at Athlumney, Navan on 3rd January 2020.

The court was told that Garda McCluskey noticed that a trailer being drawn by the defendant had no number plate and he stopped him.

A demand was made for production of insurance and driving licence but they were not produced.

It emerged that defendant was disqualified at the time. He has 15 previous convictions including those for driving while uninsured, dangerous and drunken driving and had been given prison sentences of five and six months and was disqualified from driving for periods ranging from two to six years. One conviction for driving without insurance is under appeal.

Defending barrister James O’Brien said that his client ran a business and employed a number of people. He had heavy responsibilities on a commercial and domestic level.

He had a lot of family support to ensure that this kind of incident would not happen again. He was a hardworking and industrious man and asked for leniency for his client.

Judge Miriam Walsh said that the defendant had in no way faced up to his responsibilities to other road users. He fined him a total of €1,800, disqualified him for 10 years and imposed prison sentences of 10 months.

Separately, Rebecca Murray (43), Johnstownbridge, Enfield was fined €250 and disqualified from driving for two years from 9th August next following conviction for drunken driving at Longwood on 26th June 2020.