A young man who drove off from the Galway Plaza forecourt without paying for €30 of fuel he filled up with, claimed in his defence that he had left his details and ID behind so he could be contacted for payment.
This was the scenario outlined at Tuam District Court when Jason Corcoran, Killachunna, Killimor appeared before Judge James Faughnan charged with making off from the filling station without paying and another charge of driving without insurance in Tuam on October 10, 2024. He was banned at the time.
Prosecution Garda Sgt Christy Brown pointed out that the defendant may have left his details behind but it still took a fair amount of Garda effort to locate him.
The substantive issue was the fact that Corcoran had several no insurance convictions on his record and faced a prison sentence on this charge.
The Judge was told Corcoran had 11 previous convictions and four of these were for driving without insurance.
Danny McGrath solr (defending ) said his client was 22 and his partner was pregnant. He had only bought the car the day he was stopped and was driving to Loughrea at the time. He acknowledged that he should not have been driving at the time. However, Mr McGrath pointed out that his client had at least left his ID behind when he drove away from the Plaza filling station without paying.
“I’m afraid it’s prison for him with his record,” Judge Faughnan said and sentenced him to six months. The driving off was taken into account.
Recognisances were fixed at €2,000 with €1,000 of this in cash in the event of an appeal.
