Prison sentence for Offaly teenager as judge describes driving as 'insane' and 'highly dangerous'

A judge said a case before him was one of the most serious cases of ''lunatic driving'' he had seen, at last week's Tullamore District Court.

Cathal Conroy, (19) of Baleek, Durrow, Tullamore, was charged with four counts of dangerous driving and one of intoxicated driving.

Garda Sergeant David Nolan gave evidence that on November 25, 2023 on the R42 Charleville Road he and Garda Darragh Rigney were operating a checkpoint.

As Cathal Conroy approached the checkpoint he made a ''drastic U- Turn''. He then turned left down by the train station in the direction of Sragh. Garda Rigney activated the blue lights but Mr Conroy failed to stop. He swerved to avoid the patrol car and was driving on the wrong side of the road.

He continued speeding before losing control of his vehicle and collided with the patrol car. Sergeant Nolan said the car was being driven by a male and there were three occupants in the vehicle.

In a further attempt to evade gardai, Cathal Conroy collided with the garda car for a second time.

Gardai continued to pursue the car which had taken to back roads on the way to Tyrellspass.

Extra garda assistance was called for but Mr Conroy still failed to stop until he lost control of the car and crashed into the wall of a cottage.

Gardai approached the defendant and he was placed in handcuffs. He was taken to the garda station where a blood sample revealed an alcohol level of 64 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Sergeant Nolan said the patrol car was a write off and Garda Darragh Rigney had injured his back, He is still on sick leave 7 months later.

Judge Andrew Cody said the DPP should have directed the case to the circuit court due to its seriousness.

Barrister David Nugent said the defendant admitted that he self medicated with alcohol on the day and wanted to apologise to Garda Rigney. He had no previous convictions. He is working and brought €3,000 to court as a token of remorse. The incident was completely out of character. He said he was supported by his family in court.

Judge Andrew Cody described Mr Conroy's driving as ''insane'' and ''highly dangerous''.

Offaly farmer involved in heated altercation with neighbour appears in court

Tullamore District Court was told that the tension between the two men relates to the moving of livestock to a certain portion of land.

He had no insurance, and was drunk. He had rammed the garda car twice. He said he was more than surprised that the DPP directed that the case be dealt with in the district court. He said it was very fortunate that several people weren't killed.

On the charge of dangerous driving he imposed a sentence of six months in prison. He imposed a further six months for drink driving to run consecutively. He also disqualified him from driving for 10 years.

Barrister David Nugent asked Judge Cody if he would consider a suspended sentence but the judge refused adding that it was ''insane driving,'' and he was lucky that there were not four to six people killed.

An appeal was lodged and the defendant was remanded on continuing bail on his own bond of €500 and a cash lodgement of €500.

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