This article is from page 13 of the 2013-01-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A CLARE man home on holidays for Christmas hid in a ditch after crashing his sister’s car into a bridge near Mullagh and was banned from driving for six months at Ennis District Court last Wednesday, January 2.
Brian Keane (26), with an address at Kilcolumb in Kilmaley pleaded guilty to obstruction and failing to give information when asked by a member of the gardaí but a further charge, under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, was withdrawn.
Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that on December 20, 2012, at around 1am Mr Keane drove his car into a bridge near Mullagh – about five miles away from his house in Kilmaley.
The court heard that Mr Keane left the scene of the crash on foot and was discovered by a member of the gardaí “hiding in a ditch”.
Counsel for Mr Keane told the court that the defendant was driving a friend home when the incident took place.
He said that Mr Keane had become distracted and hit bridge.
He also said that Mr Keane was discovered in a nearby field and not in a ditch.
According to the defense solicitor the car involved in the incident – which was owned by Mr Keane’s sister – was written off in the incident but no major damage was done to the bridge.
Mr Keane has had to pay for a new car for his sister.
Counsel for Mr Keane told the court that Mr Keane was a block-layer by trade and had emigrated to Australia four years ago and had been “getting on well” in his employment abroad.
He was home for Christmas when the incident took place.
The court heard that he planned to return to Australia on the following day, Thursday January 3, unless he was prevented by the court from doing so.
The court heard that Mr Keane had a number of different conviction from various dates in 2008, 2006 and 2005.
The most significant of these was a charge of dangerous driving which was reduced to “careless driving” in March of 2008.
Judge Patrick Durcan noted that Mr Keane had a “bad record for a 26year-old” and said that considering that, he had no option but to disqualify him from driving for six months and fine him € 500.