This article is from page 15 of the 2006-01-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
A 21-YEAR-old member of the travelling community, who refused to pay for a taxi which had taken him from Limerick to Shannon, has received a four-month suspended jail sentence.
John McDonagh, who resides at a traveller accommodation facility in Ballymurtagh, Shannon, was told by Judge Aeneas McCarthy that the only reason he was suspending the sentence was because the taxi driver was later paid.
Limerick city-based taxi driver Martin Walsh told Ennis District Court that he received a call to collect a fare at the Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle, Limerick. When he arrived, he said he met a “gentleman and a lady with a young baby.”
The taxi driver identified Mr McDonagh to the court.
Mr Walsh told the court he agreed a fare of €25 for the journey with the accused. When they arrived in Shannon, McDonagh “directed me into the halting site.”
Mr Walsh claimed that McDonagh refused to pay him, saying he had no money. He said McDonagh asked him to call back later and that he would have the money for him then.
Mr Walsh told the court that the accused asked his three-year-old child if he had money for the taxi.
Investigating Garda Paul McBride said when he asked the defendant if he had got a taxi earlier from Limerick, he replied, “you must be mad.”
When Garda McBride told the accused that the taxi driver was in the back of the patrol car, McDonagh went to a house and came back with €25 in cash.
In his evidence, McDonagh claimed that he always intended to pay for the taxi but that he had no money and his mother was not home at the time.
Judge McCarthy convicted the accused and imposed a four-month suspended jail sentence.