Garda called the Gestapo of Laois

A Garda said he was called the Gestapo by the passenger of a car he stopped in Laois.  

The driver of the car, James Maritz, 37,  of Patrick Street, Durrow was stopped at Patrick Street in Durrow  on February 12, 2022. 

Garda McAteer said the defendant was in the Honda Civic car with a woman in the passenger seat and a baby in the back. 

The car belonged to the passenger and the defendant wasn’t insured and didn’t have a licence to drive the car, Garda McAteer told the court. 

“The front seat passenger started verbally abusing me that we were the Gestapo of Laois, we were like Nazis,” he told Judge Andrew Cody. 

Judge Cody said the defendant couldn’t be held liable for the actions of the passenger.

He fined the man €500 for not having insurance and disqualified him from driving for two years.