Banned mechanic caught driving for test six weeks into disqualification

Westmeath court hears of repeat offender caught driving girlfriend's car while subject to 12-month ban

Banned mechanic caught driving for test six weeks into disqualification

A mechanic who received a 12-month driving ban for drug driving was apprehended driving a vehicle just six weeks into the disqualification, Mullingar District Court heard. Sean Downey (26), of Gibbonstown, Rochfortbridge, Westmeath, was already serving a four-year driving ban for no insurance, imposed in October 2023, when Gardaí stopped him test-driving his girlfriend’s car.

Sergeant Orla Keenan stated that Gardaí from the Divisional Drugs Unit encountered a car being driven from the Ardilaun Heights area. A vehicle check revealed no valid insurance. Gardaí stopped the car at Clonmore Industrial Estate, where Garda Sandra Gilger identified the driver as Sean Downey. Mr Downey immediately admitted to having no valid driving licence or insurance and was arrested. He was later charged at Mullingar Garda Station.

The court was informed that Mr Downey also faced two further charges for failing to produce his insurance and driving licence within the required ten-day period. Mr Downey, who pleaded guilty, had 21 previous convictions, the most recent being a drug driving offence resulting in a 12-month ban and fine in January of this year. He also had a four-year driving ban for no insurance from October 2023 and a previous no insurance offence from 2017.

Judge Bernadette Owens acknowledged the difficulty for the defence in presenting mitigation. Defence solicitor Louis Kiernan noted Mr Downey’s 2017 conviction occurred when he was 17 and stated that outside of motoring offences, his client was law-abiding. He conceded Mr Downey had a “blind spot” regarding road traffic laws, particularly given his profession as a mechanic and tyre fitter. Mr Kiernan explained the incident arose after Mr Downey carried out minor repairs on his girlfriend’s car and should have asked someone else to conduct the test drive. He highlighted Mr Downey’s cooperation with Gardaí and the existing four-year ban.

Judge Owens, noting the short time since Mr Downey’s previous conviction, adjourned the case for four months for a probation report, including a pro-social driving course assessment for 140 hours of community service in lieu of a four-month prison sentence. Mr Downey was remanded on bail to Mullingar District Court on September 18.

Source: Westmeath Examiner

2 Comments

  1. Obviously banning a repeat offender has no effect

    Reply
  2. Stupid boy ! Obviously he’s not going to comply so a custodial of a decent length might wake him up a bit !!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

Have your say!

0 0

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.