Woman located in Tipperary with no insurance on rented car is fined

Nenagh Court was told that aTipperary motorist who turned back at a Garda checkpoint had no insurance

placeholder image — Nenagh Court was told that aTipperary motorist who turned back at a Garda checkpoint had no insurance

A woman who failed to return a car to a car hire company has been fined by Judge Elizabeth MacGrath at Nenagh District Court for having no insurance.

An earlier court heard that Laura McCarthy of 25 Liffey Park,Mayfield, Cork, hired the car at Cork Airport on December 22, 2018, and was due to return it two days later. However, she failed to bring the vehicle back.

The court had been told that she was found driving the vehicle at Rearcross on March 10, 2019, and, following questioning by the gardaí, was initially charged with using a vehicle without the owner’s consent and driving without insurance or a driver’s licence.

Sgt Regina McCarthy had said that the hire company had reported the car as being stolen. They had been unable to charge the defendant extra as her credit card had been blocked.

Sgt McCarthy told the earlier court that the hire company would have been out of pocket as they would not have been able to hire the vehicle out until it was returned.

Sgt McCarthy had told the court that Ms McCarthy, 45, had a total of 19 previous convictions, including seven for theft.

The case had been adjourned from last March to allow Ms McCarthy to come to court. She had failed to appear due to medical reasons.

When the case came back before Judge MacGrath last Friday, her solicitor, David Peters, told the judge that Ms McCarthy had repaid €700 to the car rental company.

He said that at the time of the offence, his client had been going through a difficult time in her life.

“She is highly embarrassed and says this is out of character,” said Mr Peters.

Judge MacGrath fined Ms McCarthy €150 for driving without insurance and took a charge of having no driver’s licence into account.