A DRIVER who now has eight convictions for having no insurance has been banned from driving and given a suspended prison sentence.
Kieran Doogan (37) of Railway Crescent, Belcoo, appeared at Enniskillen Magistrates Court for sentencing on Monday charged with having no insurance, having no licence, failing to wear his seatbelt, and having three defective tyres.
On May 31st last year Doogan was stopped at a police checkpoint while driving a blue Volkswagen Passat on the Marble Arch Road. Officers had noticed as he approached the checkpoint he had not been wearing a seatbelt. Once stopped, police noted three of the tyres on the Passat were bald. Doogan was unable to produce his driving documents on the roadside and was given time to do so at the police station but failed to do so.
Defence solicitor Gary Black said Doogan, who previously lost an eye in a work-place accident, had eight convictions for no insurance, but most were from before 2003. He said Doogan had pleaded guilty to all offences as he wanted them dealt with and “the slate wiped clean.”
Mr Black said when he was stopped Doogan, who had been a mechanic by trade before having to give up work after his accident, had been driving the car as a favour to a friend. He said the defendant had not checked the tyres of the car, which needed repairs, before driving it.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan disqualified Doogan from driving for a two-and-a-half years, fined him a total of £475 and sentenced him to five months in prison, suspended for three years.
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