A man whose appeal against a two year ban and a €200 fine for driving without insurance required a solicitor, a barrister, a translator, and a garda to turn up in court, had his legal team resign and had a six month jail sentence handed down after it was revealed he could understand English and had given misleading information to his defence.
Iawco Muntean (25 ), with an address at 126, Meadowbrook, Willow Park, Athlone had been stopped close to his home on the evening of March 3, 2009 without a licence or insurance and was subsequently banned on conviction.
Muntean, a member of the Roma minority from Romania, initially appealed the conviction on Tuesday (July 20 ), but changed this to an appeal against the severity of his sentence on Wednesday.
Judge Kennedy began to castigate Muntean’s legal team of barrister, Ms Sarah Jane Tracy and solicitor, Mr Padraig Quinn for this, but they told the judge the source of confusion was because their client only spoke the Roma dialect, and didn’t fully understand Romanian, for which a translator had been provided.
Ms Tracy told the court how Muntean had instructed her that he had a policy with Quinn Direct for the day in question but that the firm had returned the premium.
Peter D Jones for the prosecution suggested the only reason “Quinn would repudiate a policy was for non-disclosure” of a pertinent detail on the application form .
Garda Pauline McGhee then gave evidence of the arrest and of Muntean’s subsequent failure to present his documents at a Garda station of his choice within 10 days. She also gave evidence of the appellant’s other convictions, all for road traffic offences, which were subsequent to this appealed conviction.
“Will he never learn?” asked Judge Kennedy.
On instruction, Ms Tracy then told the judge that her client had purchased a policy on June 29, 2009.
“But hold on? June 2009? The offence was in March 2009. It appears to me he took out insurance after the event,” said the judge.
“This is very cavalier, Ms Tracy. This has carried on since yesterday and it seems you still haven’t checked your facts,” said Judge Kennedy, postponing the hearing for a short while to allow Muntean’s legal team to get their story straight.
An hour later when they returned to the court, Ms Tracy and Mr Quinn asked Judge Kennedy if they could “come off record”.
“We can no longer act for the defendant as he has given false instruction and can speak English and Romanian,” said Ms Tracy.
“Who are you trying to fool?” the judge asked Muntean.
“Nobody,” said the defendant through the translator.
“He thought he was insured and claims he has a driving licence but it’s in another Garda station,” his translator told the court.
“Tell him I trust the garda ahead of him,” said the judge, before adding six months in jail to Muntean’s conviction for driving without insurance.
