This article is from page 28 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
A TWENTY-YEAR-OLD man with ‘a terrible record” was disqualified from driving and given ten months detention after gardai found him being driven to Cratloe Woods in a stolen car.
James Hayes of 20 Craeval Park, Moyross in Limerick was a passen- ger in a car stopped at Cratloe by ee KereNB
On investigation, it was discovered that the vehicle had been stolen the previous day in Limerick, the Ennis District Court heard.
The steering lock and the window of the car were broken.
The 20-year-old has been given cus- todial sentences on five previous oc-
casions and one suspended sentence and is currently serving a sentence, Judge James Mangan was told.
“He has a terrible record and he seems to have spent more time in custody than out of it since 2006,” his solicitor, Tara Godfrey said.
She told the court that Hayes, who pleaded guilty to the charge, left school at 15 after his mother died.
‘He was taking drugs but he 1s off them now. It is a bad road he’s going down. I don’t know if there is any- thing that can be done to help him but if the court would see fit to al- low the probation services to get in- volved with him, it might be a timely intervention.”
Ms Godfrey added that Hayes’s previous convictions were mostly for
theft and he had no previous for al- lowing himself to be carried in a sto- len car or any other offences under the Road Traffic Act.
“A friend pulled up beside him in the car an they went for a drive – there was no feeling that he was involved in the theft of the car,’ Ms Godfrey said.
Judge Joseph Mangan disqualified Hayes from driving for four years and sentenced him to ten months in St Patrick’s Institute in Dublin, to be- gin when he finishes serving the six months he is now serving.
The judge set bail for an appeal on his own bond of €4,000.