A MOTHER who tried to seek extra time for her teenage son to pay a fine, was verbally abused by him in court, after it emerged he has a previous relevant record which was not disclosed and which the defence were unaware.
A discretionary short driving ban was sought and initially agreed until the call for extended time to discharge the fine, which in turn revealed that chance had already been afforded less than two months ago.
Nathan White (19) of Drumclay Park, Enniskillen was detected driving without insurance on 21 July last year in Clogher.
He pleaded guilty at Dungannon Magistrates Court, where accompanied by his mum, it was explained an error had occurred in the switching over of insurance to a different car.
The defence said White’s difficulty was what remained of his restricted driver period and the standard six penalty points for the offence would revoke his licence for a mandatory six months.
The defence asked District Judge Peter Magill to consider the circumstances and impose a short discretionary disqualification in lieu of penalty points.
This was agreed and Judge Magill imposed a £100 fine along with a one month driving ban.
He allowed 16 weeks to discharge the fine but White’s mother said, “He’ll need longer than that. He’s already paying off another fine from a different court.”
Despite White trying to prevent his mother speaking, Judge Magill had heard enough and demanded to know the facts of the previous matter.
This came as a shock to the defence who had to confer with his client.
On return he explained White had been fined at Enniskillen Magistrates Court at the end of November for speeding.
That was also dealt with by a one month discretionary driving disqualification, which ended two weeks ago.
Judge Magill said, “So he has already had a chance?
“That changes things. I don’t see how I can overlook this.”
He increased the ban to two months at which White clenched his fists to his face and audibly swore at his mother, telling her to “f*** away off.”
Noting this Judge Magill said, “You seem somewhat disgruntled. Make sure you don’t come back.”
As White strode out of the court he muttered something, which Judge Magill asked him to repeat.
Instead his mother replied, “He said, ‘I don’t intend to sir’”.
But White slammed through the court doors and began remonstrating loudly with his mother.
His lawyer commented, “Some people don’t know how to help themselves.”
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