A MAN caused such concern by following and intimidating his former partner while she was doing her driving test, that the examiner had to call off the exam out of safety fears.
Judge James Faughnan heard at Loughrea District Court that the man borrowed a car for 45 minutes so he could follow and intimidate his victim during her test. He parked close to the test car as the woman was attempting manoeuvres, blew his car horn to intimidate her and behaved in such a manner that the test was cancelled by the examiner and the woman failed it.
The Court heard Garda evidence that the defendant, who cannot be named as reporting restrictions were put in place to protect the identity of the victim, was traced by Gardaí using CCTV footage. The Gardaí clearly identified the man, as did the victim while attempting to do her test.
The defendant was arrested on December 23 last and remained in custody because he could not make bail money.
John Nash solr (defending ) pleaded that both parties had been in a relationship and his client was very traumatised by the break-up. He was in his 40s and there “wasn’t a blot on his copybook until now.”
Judge Faughnan said that this was “calculated harassment”. The maximum sentence for such an offence had been raised from three to 12 months, which he felt was quite right. He added that he was concerned that the victim had failed her driving test because of the intimidation and imposed a four-month sentence, backdated to December 23 when the defendant was first taken into custody. Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.
In conclusion he asked the victim if she was able to re-sit her test and if she got it. She replied that she had.
