A DISTRICT court judge told a Ballineen man that there has to be a deterrent to others after hearing that he took the car keys of a BMW without the owner’s consent and later ended up crashing it and fleeing the scene.
Judge James McNulty was dealing with the case of Stuart McNamara at a recent sitting of Bandon District Court.
Mr McNamara (34) with an address at Apt 1, Main Street, Ballineen, pleaded guilty to the unauthorised taking of a vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident and driving without insurance and a driving licence.
Before the case commenced, his solicitor Myra Dinneen argued that there was a delay in the prosecution of her client as the incident occurred in 2019.
The court heard that the summons was re-issued four times and that there had been difficulties in tracking down the defendant, but Ms Dinneen said her client was living in the vicinity all that time.
However, Judge McNulty said he was satisfied that there was no undue delay.
Insp Kay O’Donoghue told the court that at 4am on October 7th 2019 gardaí received a call about a single road traffic collision in Enniskeane.
‘When they arrived at the scene they found a blue BMW in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes and extensively damaged,’ said Insp O’Donoghue.
‘Gardaí tried to locate the driver and discovered that the car was registered to James Walsh, but when they contacted him, he told them he wasn’t driving the car that night.’
Mr Walsh told gardaí that the defendant was driving the car and he had left it parked outside the Olympic Bar in Ballineen.
‘He locked the car and went to Centra, then the defendant rang him to come to his house. They had a few drinks and Mr Walsh later left.’
However, when he woke up the next day he couldn’t find the keys to his car.
‘He saw texts from Mr McNamara asking him not to ring the guards as he had taken his car and crashed it outside Enniskeane.’
Mr McNamara was arrested the following month for the unauthorised taking of a vehicle and driving without insurance or a driving licence.
The court heard he has 22 previous convictions, including one for the unauthorised taking of a vehicle in 2011.
Ms Dinneen said her client works as a building contractor and that his actions were a ‘moment of stupidity and madness’ after consuming alcohol that night.
‘He accepts the facts and I have references from his work which I’m handing into court,’ she added.
Judge McNulty said it would be a ‘bit harsh’ to send him to prison that day.
He convicted him on all offences but he deferred penalty and told him to come back to court on June 7th with €1,000.
‘It would normally be a sentence but the court might suspend it in June depending on what you say but there has to be a deterrent for others,’ said the judge.
