A man with 31 previous convictions which include a plethora of road traffic offences will have to serve an extra seven months for drink driving and driving while uninsured.
At Galway District Court earlier this week was Michael Sweeney (23 ) with an address at 1 Tower View, Ballinrobe, Mayo, who was charged with drink driving, driving without insurance and a driving licence, as well as failure to produce both documents on May 13, 2008, at Sean Mulvoy Road. He was also charged with failure to appear for a court sitting on July 21, 2008.
Inspector Ernie White told the court that at 12.45am the defendant had been stopped at Sean Mulvoy Road and arrested on suspicion of drink driving. He was conveyed to Galway Garda Station where he gave an intoxiliser reading of 49mgs per 100mls of breath which is over the legal limit.
The court also heard how the defendant had a total of 31 previous convictions. The last conviction, in February 2008, was for having no tax for his vehicle, driving without insurance and failure to produce insurance, for which he received three months and was disqualified for five years. In July 2007, there was another conviction for driving without insurance and failure to produce it. The defendant is currently serving a three month sentence with a release date of December 13.
Defence solicitor Olivia Traynor said that her client, who is married with two children, had a very serious history but that this was the first offence for drink driving.
Judge Fahy warned that this was serious for him because of his previous record. However she said that she would take his plea of guilty into account. For the charge of drink driving she imposed a four month sentence to be served on termination of the sentence being served. Sweeney was also disqualified for two years. For driving without insurance a further three month sentence, to be served consecutively was imposed. One month concurrent sentences were imposed for failure to appear in court and for failure to produce insurance. The other charges were taken into consideration.
