A MOTORIST who crashed his car into an ESB pole outside Glengarriff ended up causing almost €4,500 of damage to the pole, a court heard last week.
Valentyn Paslar of Ballylickey Bay Cottages, Dromkeal, Bantry pleaded guilty at Bantry District Court to driving without insurance or a driving licence and leaving the scene of an accident.
Sgt Trish O’Sullivan told the court that on September 30th last gardaí received a report of a single vehicle collision at Dromgarriff. On arrival, they found a car crashed into an ESB pole outside the village, but no driver present.
Gardaí later located Mr Paslar and when interviewed on October 14th, he admitted he was the driver. He was disqualified at the time, so he had no insurance.
The pole had to be replaced by the ESB and cost €4,488.
Defence solicitor Flor Murphy said his client, from Moldova, has poor English and works in a fish factory. He accepts he shouldn’t have driven on that day.
‘He was going to Glengarriff to get bed clothes as his own were infested and he took a chance which he shouldn’t have done,’ said Mr
Murphy.
‘He did ring emergency services five times but they couldn’t understand what he was saying due to his English. He remained at the scene for half an hour and it was a wet and windy night.’
Judge Marie Keane disqualified him from driving for two years and convicted and fined him €250 for driving without insurance, giving him four months to pay.
She also convicted him a total of €200 for driving while disqualified and leaving the scene of an accident and remarked that he should really be going to jail.
