A young man who led gardai on a dangerous car chase before losing control of his vehicle and running away through a field was sentenced to a total of six months and disqualified from driving for three years.
Michael Kirk (22 ) with an address at 35 An Castan, Doughiska, appeared at Galway District Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to drink driving, dangerous driving, and driving without insurance, at Doughiska on December 3, 2009.
Inspector Michael Coppinger told the court that at 3.30am plain clothes gardai observed a car driven by the defendant coming towards them. The car then “shimmied” before turning. The gardai put the patrol car sirens on and pursued the vehicle until it reached the crest of a hill in Roscam where it lost control. The defendant got out of the car and took off through nearby fields. The pursuing gardai searched the car and found the defendant’s address. They made their way to the house and arrested Kirk who was co-operative from that point onwards. The inspector added that there was an intoxiliser reading of 40mgs of alcohol per 100ml of breath and that Kirk has a previous conviction for public order.
Defence solicitor Adrian MacLynn said that his client, who is originally from Northern Ireland, had a lot of issues in his early life and he still has serious issues to address. He added that Kirk was currently unemployed.
“He was out driving at 3.30am with no insurance. Gardai were in hot pursuit. It was dangerous and he should have stopped,” said Judge Mary Fahy who refused to suspend the sentence on the grounds that the incident had involved a Garda chase and the defendant had ran through a field to get away. However she did grant leave to appeal
