A Dublin man narrowly escaped going from Galway District Court to prison when he was convicted on his fifth charge of driving without insurance.
Judge Fiona Lydon had imposed a four-month prison sentence on Christopher Murray, 36 Inver Road, Cabra, Dublin 7, but after a plea by the defence to suspend the sentence as he was in court with his partner and they had a 10-week-old baby boy, the judge said she would “reluctantly” do so. However, a four-year driving ban and a €1,000 fine were imposed in addition to the suspended sentence.
For repeated no-insurance offences such as this, the court could have imposed a six-month prison sentence, a fine of up to €5,000, and a very lengthy driving ban.
The court heard that the defendant was detected driving without insurance at Westside Shopping Centre on March 10, 2020. He had 17 previous convictions, including four for driving without insurance. He was caught driving without insurance in 2009, 2010 and twice in 2015.
The defence pleaded that he took out insurance, but this was after he had been caught without it at Westside.
A number of other charges were taken into account by the Judge.
