Banned Portlaoise driver drove after family eviction 

A Portlaoise man drove while disqualified as his family had been evicted from their home, the recent sitting of Portlaoise District Court heard. 

Before the court was Kevin Mobiru of 13 Birch Grove, Portlaoise who was charged with a no insurance offence at Clonboyne, Portlaoise on October 10, last. 

The court heard he had a number of previous convictions for road traffic offences, including two previous convictions for no insurance. 

He had received a driving disqualification on the same day as the latest offence, but this had not come into effect at that point. However, he was already disqualified from driving due to a previous no insurance offence. 

Defence solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity for the latest charge. The father of one had been evicted from his home on the date of the offence. He made a decision to “move from A to B. He had to transport his family,” Ms Fitzpatrick said. 

Originally from Uganda, Ms Fitzpatrick said the defendant had “no option only to take the car out”. 

However, Judge Deirdre Gearty said: “There is always an alternative”. 

“He could have asked someone to give him a lift ,” she added. 

“This man is making a joke of the Road Traffic Act,” she said. “He had been disqualified twice and was in court that morning…. There’s no excuse”. 

Ms Fitzpatrick accepted her client “didn’t think outside the box on the day”. 

When Judge Gearty asked who owned the car, Ms Fitzpatrick said it belonged to the defendant’s sister. 

A prison sentence of two months was imposed on the defendant, which was suspended for two years, on condition the defendant enters into a bond. 

The sentence will be activated if the defendant drives without proper documentation. A six-year driving disqualification was imposed on the no insurance charge, with a charge of driving without a driving licence market proven and taken into consideration. 

“Please, please don’t get into a car again without insurance,” Judge Gearty said.

Free legal aid was applied for the case.