An 18-year-old man who stole a hearse after a night out and took it for a spin around town before it crashed into a wall, was before Ballina District Court this week for the unauthorised taking of an MPV.
On the way home from a house party at around 6am on March 19 2012, Daniel Byrne, 8 Greenfort Lawns, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, entered the yard of McGowan’s Funeral Home, Emmett Street, Ballina, where he opened the door of an unlocked silver hearse and stole it. Byrne drove it around town before he crashed it into a wall. The defendant then fled the scene. Byrne had no driving licence or insurance.
The court heard that Byrne lives with his maternal grandparents in Dublin but visits Ballina as his paternal grandparents live here.
Judge Mary Devins dismissed the charges under section 11A and directed that Byrne does not return to Ballina for three years.
