Prison sentence for man who drove in Offaly to help ill wife despite four-year ban

TULLAMORE District Court was told that a man drove despite being disqualified because he had to help his wife who is suffering from cancer.

Wilton De Freitas (44), The Sycamores, Edenderry, admitted driving without insurance on June 12 last.

Sergeant Brendan Kearns told the District Court that gardai observed a vehicle being driven at JKL Street and followed it to The Sycamores “at speed”.

Sergeant Kearns said Mr De Freitas had a total of eight previous convictions and was disqualified from driving at the time having received a four-year ban on March 25 last for having no motor insurance.

A suspended sentence of four months had also been previously imposed on him and he had been fined €450.

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Patrick Martin, defending solicitor, said Mr De Freitas had insurance but it was invalid because he was disqualified. He was driving with a Brazilian licence.

On the day the gardai saw him there had been a medical issue with his wife and she needed a lot of car.

The man, a father of three children aged 21, 13 and seven, had been working in Dublin but had previously been working for Dawn Meats.

He now understood that he cannot drive and agreed it was very stupid to drive on the day of the offence.

Judge William Aylmer convicted Mr De Freitas and imposed a one-month prison sentence on him.

Later, Mr Martin asked for the case to be recalled and requested recognisances to be fixed for an appeal because his client's wife had surgery scheduled in Brazil.

Judge Aylmer fixed recognisance and also granted Mr De Freitas bail in relation to his alleged breach of the terms of a suspended sentence.