This article is from page 12 of the 2008-08-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
A 19-year-old driver took off after being spotted by gardai, speeding along roads where schoolchildren were walking, sending dust and gravel flying and ignoring a stop sign before jumping from the car and es- caping on foot, a judge was told.
On another occasion, Patrick Mur- phy of Tiermane, Mullagh, over- took a line of cars, including that of an off-duty garda, on a continuous white line.
The court heard Garda Gary Lade
was on duty in a patrol car in Kilmi- hill on April 10 at 1.10pm when he spotted the accused driving and talk- ing on his mobile phone.
Garda Lade told Ennis District Court that he knew that Murphy didn’t have a licence.
‘He drove off at speed past the sec- ondary school. It was lunch-time and there were a lot of students walking on the road. There 1s no footpath,” he told Judge Leo Malone.
“T put the flashing blue light on and drove after him. He undertook a vehicle, sending dust and gravel
spinning and drove on to a junction, where he failed to stop at a yield sign. He then overtook a car and a lorry on a continuous white line.”
In Church Street, Murpy got caught in traffic, the witness said and aban- doned the car, running through a number of premises before climbing a wall and disappearing into a field.
But later that day, he walked into the garda station of his own free will and made a full statement in the mat- com
On February 9, the court heard, Murphy came round a bend at speed
in his Honda Civic and whipped the wing mirror off a car which had been forced to pull over. He failed to stop.
On April 1, Judge Malone was told, Murphy overtook an off-duty garda in a line of several cars on a continu- ous white line, coming up to a blind bend. Murphy has never held a driv- ing licence and was not insured when the dangerous driving offences were committed, the court was told. He was pleading guilty to all offences, his solicitor, Patrick Moylan told the court.
He said Murphy had left school af-
ter his Junior Certificate and had dif- ficult family circumstances.
‘He believed he was insured at the time. He had paid instalments on his insurance but the cover had been withdrawn because he had failed to produce a driving licence.”
Judge Malone said he would re- mand Murphy in custody for two weeks so that he could have a pro- bation report drawn up. Having been in custody for a month already, the judge said he would take any period of detention into account in his final ose Kovereruatee