Prison sentence for man caught driving with no insurance in Tullamore

A man was sentenced to five months imprisonment for no insurance during last week's sitting of Tullamore Court.

The defendant was John Dinnegan, 30 Abbeybrook Court, Kilbeggan. He was summonsed for Hit and Run (failing to report occurrence – damage to property) and no insurance on January 13th, 2022 on Church Road Tullamore; and driving without reasonable consideration and no insurance on Old Dublin Road, Kilbeggan on June the 15th  2022.

The defending solicitor Donal Farrelly said his client was pleading guilty.

Sgt James O'Sullivan told the Judge that on June 15th  last Mr Dinnegan “failed to observe that the car in front of him had stopped and was indicating to turn right. He overtook the car on the right hand side, was forced to swerve and struck a wall. The damage to the wall was paid for by the insurance company.”

Garda Darren Gallagher told the court that on the 13th  of January, 2022, on Church Road, Tullamore a car was hit from behind by a Silver Ford Focus, the defendant's car. “The defendant stopped initially but when he heard the Gardaí had been called he left the scene.

“The defendant has seven previous convictions, including one for no insurance in January 2018 for which he was disqualified for two years. In March 2016 he was also convicted of no insurance.”

The defending solicitor Donal Farrelly told the Judge that the 13th  of January was a minor accident “and my client told me that he left because the driver of the other car was getting upset. He felt that the injured party was getting more aggressive.

“Mr Finnegan is 27 years of age. He has a child aged six weeks. He has been in a bad place mentally for some time. He had been working for some time in a local meat factory but he has now lost his employment. I would ask the court to please give him a chance.”

Judge John O'Leary pointed out that there was no evidence of mental health issues before the court.

For the charge of no insurance on January 13th  he convicted and sentenced to five months imprisonment. The Hit and run offence he took into consideration.

For the 15th  of June no insurance offence he sentenced to five months imprisonment, to run concurrently. He took into consideration non display of tax and driving without reasonable consideration.