At Belmullet District Court on Wednesday a Latvian man who was not wearing his seatbelt was disqualified and was also fined for allowing his child to be unrestrained in a car.
Lauris Jandavs, 29 College Park, Logmore, Belmullet, was detected not wearing his seatbelt on American Street, Belmullet, on August 8 2008 at 3.10pm by Garda Evelyn O’Malley. A fixed penalty notice was issued but was not paid. Garda O’Malley also noticed that the defendant’s child was standing between the seats of the car.
Judge Mary Devins asked the call centre worker if he thought it was right for a child to be standing in a car as the child could have been “killed, brain damaged, or paralysed”.
Jandavs, who represented himself, did not reply, to which Judge Devins said that the defendant was showing a certain attitude and was about half a minute away from being in contempt of court.
The defendant was convicted and fined €500 for not wearing his seatbelt, and for not having a seatbelt on his child he was convicted and fined €500 and disqualified from driving for a year.
