A mother of 10 was given a three month suspended sentence, fined €1,000, and banned from the roads for four years for causing a car crash whilst uninsured that hospitalised three people.
Apart from causing the injuries and writing off the oncoming car, Alice Joyce (55 ) of Farnagh, Moate also denied being the driver to the gardai when they arrived on the scene.
Judge William Earley heard how Joyce had taken her husband’s van without permission to a friend who had run out of petrol on the old Athlone-Moate road, not far from her family home on the evening of February 11 last.
After going to the filling station and returning to the broken down car, Joyce then pulled the van out of the hard shoulder without looking and wrote off the oncoming car from which a driver and two passengers had to be hospitalised.
“One person is still receiving treatment,” said Superintendent Aidan Glacken.
The court heard how the mother of 10 had six previous convictions for theft, assault and handling stolen goods.
“My client took a rash decision to take the van. She wasn’t as vigilant as she should’ve been and unfortunately the acccident occurred with the oncoming vehicle,” said defending solicitor, Mr Tony McLynn.
“She accepts she panicked at the scene and was evasive.”
“It wasn’t evasive,” said Judge Earley. “It was a simple lie.”
Mr McLynn told the court that the prosecuting garda accepted that the third party had run out of petrol and that Joyce was the mother of 10 children, a number of whom still lived at home.
“She was trying to do a good deed but her reward was a whole lot of trouble,” said Mr McLynn.
“She should’ve gone and got her husband, who was busy in the field with a pony.”
“Mrs Joyce should not be presented as the victim in this incident,” said the judge.
“Mrs Joyce drove negligently out onto the road and wrote off a car in which three people were injured.”
He fined Joyce €500 and disqualified her for two years on each of the dangerous driving and no insurance charges.
He then sentenced Joyce to three months in prison for failing to give the correct inforrmation to gardai at the scene, but suspended this for two years.
