Enniskillen Court House, RMGFH04
A KESH pensioner, who hasn’t had a full licence since 1997, crashed his car after either falling a sleep or suffering “a bit of a stroke.”
John Aiken (71) of Dooraa was charged with driving without due care and attention, driving without insurance, driving without a licence, and having no test certificate following the incident on August 5 last year.
At around 9.20am on the morning in question, police were called to the scene of a collision on the Boa Island Road. When they arrived they found Aiken’s silver Nissan had struck a pillar of a house, and the defendant was talking with the homeowner.
Aiken told the officers he had been driving, and said he didn’t remember what had happened. Checks on the van revealed it wasn’t insured, and that it didn’t have a valid test certificate.
In interview the next day, Aiken admitted having no insurance, no test certificate, and no licence, with his licence expiring in 1997. He again told police he couldn’t remember what had happened, and said he must’ve fallen asleep.
Defence solicitor Tommy Owens said Aiken had been working on a digger that needed a part, and he had decided to drive to Ballyshannon to get the part early in the day to avoid traffic. He said Aiken wasn’t sure if he’d fallen asleep or “had a bit of a stroke”, which was what his GP had suggested happened when he visited him afterwards.
Mr Owens said Aiken, who had no previous convictions, had now given up driving and “taken himself off the road.”
District Judge Nigel Broderick said Aiken had been caught driving without a licence or insurance following the collision, and while there was nothing before the court to suggest Aiken had driven at any other time, he said “I have my suspicions.”
Judge Broderick fined Aiken, who was not present in court, a total of £400 for all charges and disqualified him from driving for six months.
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