This article is from page 20 of the 2007-06-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
A YOUNG man who did a 360 de- eree handbrake turn in a west Clare village last week was spotted by an off-duty garda who was on his way home from work.
Declan Carmody (26) of Caher- calla Estate, Ennis, was convicted of dangerous driving, arising from an incident in Cooraclare village on Tuesday last, June 19.
Garda John Reidy told Ennis Dis-
trict Court on Friday that he was driving near the funeral home in Co- oraclare at 10.05pm. He said he saw a car “shooting” over the bridge and doing a 360 degree handbrake turn.
The car continued up the main street and overtook a vehicle which had indicated to turn right. Garda Reidy eventually caught up with the car in Kilmihil village.
Defending solicitor, Stephen Nicho- las, said his client had just returned from the UK – where he works – and
was driving a hired car.
He said Carmody accepted that his driving was “absolutely utterly un- reasonable and not acceptable.”
“He should not have done this 360 degree turn. His conduct driving through the village was not accept- able,’ said Mr Nicholas.
Carmody had initially faced two charges of dangerous driving but one O) ME Nato eo DuUoh MAE KRU li (Oleh, 20m ahaa isle SIF rer
The court was told Carmody had
been disqualified from driving in the UK courts, but his solicitor said he did not believe this resulted in a ban in Ireland.
“It wasn’t a deliberate flaunting of the law. He genuinely believed he wasn’t disqualified to drive in this country,’ said Mr Nicholas.
Judge Joseph Mangan jailed Car- mody for three months and disquali- fied him from driving for five years. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.