A case against a Mullingar man for having no insurance was struck out when Judge Eamon O’Brien said he had “small doubts about the case”.
There were questions over the registered ownership of a motorcycle which Garda June Butler said defendant Ciarán Dunne of Great Down, The Downs told her he owned.
It had been involved in a collision on the N4 at the Downs. Another man had been test-driving it at the time and Mr Dunne said he had been repairing it for a third party with a view to selling it on.
He said he had never told the Garda that he was the registered owner but he admitted he was the person who had brought it to the car park where the potential buyer had permission to test it out in a car park.
He had not given the man permission to drive it on the road, he said.
He got it through “a friend of a friend”, he said and Mr Seán Corrigan, representing him said his client specialised in aluminium welding.
The garda had tracked the vehicle to an address in Monaghan in 2005 which she couldn’t track. However, she said that Mr Dunne had admitted following caution that he was the owner.
Mr Corrigan highlighted that the state was having difficulty proving ownership and the no insurance charge against his client was struck out.
