Court House.
IT WAS LIKE something from ‘Police Camera Action’. A car refused to stop for police who had to give chase, chasing the Toyota Corolla car half way across the county.
The sixteen mile police chase from near Ederney right through Enniskillen ended only when a police car got in front of the vehicle to stop it at Sligo Road in Enniskillen.
Following the high speed chase, which involved police deploying a stinger to deflate the car’s tyres, a 27 year old man appearing before Fermanagh Magistrates Court charged with permittinghis friend to drive his car without insurance and with obstructing a police constable. The driver of the car has yet to appear before the court.
Jason Philip Mulcahy from Corrawallen, Carrigallen, County Leitrim admitted the charges and was fined a total of £500 in addition to receiving a three month driving ban.
The drama unfolded in the early hours of May 12 this year when at around 1.40am police in an unmarked vehicle saw a Toyota Corolla coming from the direction of Ederney.
They noticed the car, which had three people on board, had no rear number plate and signalled for the car to stop using their siren and blue lights close to Castle Archdale.
The car refused to stop and police started a pursuit through Killadeas at speeds between 60-70mph.
The Corolla drove the wrong way around the Trory roundabout, and continued towards Enniskillen with the police car behind them.
At Trory, police deployed a stinger device which caught one of the front tyres of the car. As the Corolla approached the South West Hospital it went completely on the wrong side of the road but continued driving into Enniskillen over Chanterhill, along Forthill Street before driving through a red light.
The car continued along the Wellington Road, and onto the Sligo Road at a speed of about 40mph.
By this stage the tyre that had hit the stinger was breaking apart and the car was driving along on the front wheel rim, which was starting to disintegrate.
Going out the Sligo road a police vehicle got in front of the Corolla to bring it to a safe stop with the police vehicle making contact with the driver’s door in an effort to stop the driver escaping.
The driver and other passenger jumped out of the car but were arrested shortly afterwards while the defendant had been in the back of the car and was also arrested.
The defendant told police he couldn’t remember who was driving the car and was arrested for obstruction.
Bernard Corrigan, defending, said his client was a windscreen fitter who had gone from home to Letterkenny that evening with the intention of staying.
When his friend, Stephen McGrath, said he wanted to go home the defendant said he wouldn’t drive so McGrath decided to drive – with the defendant believing he could drive under his own insurance.
The defendant appeared before the court with his mother, and Mr Corrigan said he had entered a plea at an early stage. The court heard the defendant’s licence is essential for his work.
Judge McNally told the defendant while he hadn’t been driving the car he could have done a lot more to stop this whole incident from happening.
For permitting no insurance a fine of £300 was imposed and the driving ban while for obstruction he was fined £200.
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