A young person has been disqualified from driving for a period of two years for dangerous driving.
Garda Murcus J O’Dowd told Dungloe District Court on Tuesday that he was in Cnoc a’ Stolaire on July 1 last when he saw a red Honda Civic turn off a main road and onto another road by means of a handbrake turn.
When the car came back down, the sam
e manoeuvre was carried out, attracting the attention of the off-duty garda. Gda O’Dowd got into his car and followed the Honda Civic as far as Machaire Chlochair where he witnessed the driver of the car do a handbrake manoeuvre once again and he saw the back wheel cross the continuous white line.
The driver stopped outside the garda barracks. The 17-year-old driver of the car was driving on a provisional licence without a qualified driver at the time. There were two young girls in the car, one in the back and one in the front. The youth gave the garda a number which he said belonged to his father. It subsequently turned out to be incorrect.
District Court Judge Seamus Hughes said: “If I convict this young man of dangerous driving, he will be disqualified for two years and it would kill me to it.”
After a moment’s thought Judge Hughes decided to convict the youth on one count of dangerous driving at Machaire Chlochair and fined him €300. All other charges were taken into consideration.
The Judge commended Garda Marcus O’Dowd for being a conscientious public servant.
