High-speed chase on Laois roads recalled in Portlaoise court
Portlaoise Courthouse
DETECTIVES from the Laois Drug Unit were involved in a high-speed car chase around roads in Mountrath in March this year.
The events of the night were relayed at Portlaoise District Court last week when the 31-year-old defendant in the case was jailed for 12 months and banned from driving for ten years.
Before the court was Kyle O’Donovan from Glengara Avenue, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, who pleaded not guilty to three counts of dangerous driving in Mountrath on 5 March.
Det Neil Slevin said that while he and his three colleagues â detectives David Montgomery, Pat Camon and Joe Fahy â were on mobile patrol on the Rushin Road in Mountrath at 9.10pm, he observed a Volkswagen iD4 approaching Rushin Cross and turn towards the Clonin direction at high speed.
Det Slevin said the car “blew through a stop sign and slid sideways, drifting and continued at high speed onto the main road.” He said the unmarked patrol car took off in pursuit and witnessed the car reaching speeds of up to 160km/ph. At one stage in the pursuit, he said the defendant’s car rounded a corner on the wrong side of the road, hitting the corner before righting itself and speeding off again.
Det Slevin said: “Should a vehicle have been coming against it, he would have hit it head-on.” He said as the car was coming into Mountrath, it slowed somewhat but was still doing about 80km in a 50km/h zone. It was forced to stop at traffic lights because two cars were ahead of it.
Det Slevin said he and his colleagues detectives Montgomery and Camon exited their patrol car and approached the driver, took out their badges identified themselves and shouted at him to stop.
He said he had a good view of the occupant of the car and could identify him as Kyle O’Donovan.
Det Slevin said the car reversed back onto the road, spun around and headed back in the direction it had come from. He said the car sped past the mart and left the road as it went over the bridge.
He said on 7 March he contacted the person whom the car had been leased to – Iris O’Donovan – and asked her had the car been stolen at the time, to which she replied it had not. Two months later, on 29 May, gardaí arrested, cautioned and charged Mr O’Donovan with the three offences that had taken place at Rushin Cross, Old Church Road and on Rushin Road.
Defending barrister Andrew Dunne put it to Det Slevin that it had been impossible for him to have identified his client at the traffic lights because it had been dark at the location.
“I had a clear view. It was Kyle O’Donovan,” said the garda.
“If you knew 100% who it was, why did it take you two and a half months to contact and arrest him,” asked the barrister?
“We (garda drug unit) were extremely busy around that time,” he replied.
Similar evidence of the car chase was given by detectives Montgomery, Camon and Fahy. However, Det Fahy said he had not exited the patrol car when it was stopped at the traffic lights, so he could not identify the person who had been in it at the time.
Judge Cody said he was convicting Mr O’Donovan of all three charges and asked if he had any previous convictions, to which the court was told he had nine priors, two of which were for dangerous driving.
Mr Dunne said his client is 31 years of age and is training to be a mechanic.
Judge Cody said: “I have absolutely no difficulty in accepting the evidence of the four gardaí. They are the most experienced, hard-working and respected gardaí in the town. Mr O’Donovan put the gardaí and members of the public in danger.” He went on to convict the defendant on the three charges and imposed four-month sentences on each to run consecutively to each other, fined him €500 on each charge and imposed a ten-year driving ban.
He fixed recognisance in the event Mr O’Donovan wished to appeal against the sentences on his own bond of €2,000 and a cash lodgement of €1,000.
Before the case concluded, Mr Dunne applied for free legal aid for his client.
Judge Cody noted that the defendant was “driving a 251 reg car at the time,” to which Mr Dunne replied: “It was a car leased by his mother.” Judge Cody said when the case was first before the court, he had requested bank statements and wage slips for two months prior to 19 June from Mr O’Donovan so that he could assess whether free legal aid would be granted.
After Mr Dunne submitted documents, Judge Cody said: “I asked for a bank statement, what goes in and out of his account. This is no use to me.” Mr Dunne said that his client’s employer pays him in cash.
“I’m not satisfied to provide free legal aid,” said Judge Cody, “what 31-year-old in this day and age has not got a bank account?” Taking the stand and under oath, Mr O’Donovan said he had pay slips from his employer and earns €350 a week.
He said: “I’m paid in cash. I give my mother money and I feed myself. I’m in receipt of no other income.” Judge Cody wanted to know: “If paying for items by credit card, how do you do that?” “I don’t,” replied Mr O’Donovan.
“I don’t accept that anybody in this day and age doesn’t have a bank account; €350 seems like a very low wage to me,” said Judge Cody, who went on to reject Mr Dunne’s application for free legal aid.
