This article is from page 3 of the 2007-07-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
MORE than one third of all road traf- fic cases which went to the district court in Clare last year were struck OMB Lm eRMoN Eee
4.896 cases went to court and 1,646 of those were struck out, according to figures published by the Courts Serv- ice on Friday.
Fines were imposed in 1,365 of the motoring offences, with jail or deten- tion sentences imposed in 69 cases. The Probation Act was applied in 137
of the cases. The total number of 4,896 cases represented 2,653 defendants.
A similar number of cases went to court the previous year, 2005 — 4685 — 1419 of which were struck out.
The figures show that 150 drugs cases went to the district court, which involved 123 defendants.
Twelve people were jailed, 26 were fined, while 32 people had their drugs cases struck out. The Probation Act was applied in the case of 27 defend- ants.
A total of 265 larceny cases (a drop
from 302 in 2005) went to court, which represented 168 people. 51 cases re- sulted in jail or detention sentences be- ing imposed. 92 cases were taken into consideration (with other charges), while fines were imposed in 28 cases. The Probation Act was applied in 31 cases, while 29 were struck out. Seven cases involving sexual offenc- es were heard in the district court, dur- ing 2006. One defendant was jailed or had detention imposed. Three were fined, two were struck out, while the other case was taken into considera-
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751 cases relating to assault or public order were heard in the district court last year. These involved 592 defend- evel AE
92 cases resulted in jail or detention sentences being imposed, while fines were imposed in 126 cases. The Pro- bation Act was applied in 79 cases, while 191 were struck out. Communi- ty service was handed out in 11 cases.
The Courts Service figures show that the average waiting time for criminal and civil trials in the Circuit Court in
ERE Meee som Oo Aol IMU elRoromr: Tale! six months. The waiting time for ap- peals was three months.
The waiting time for divorce cases in the family law court was three months, while those seeking judicial separation had an average wait of six months.
The average waiting times for crim1- nal cases in the district court in Ennis was one month, with no delay for civil cases. Family law cases in the dis- trict court had a waiting time of one month.