‘It was more than criminal damage, more like a hit and run as well’ - Judge Andrew Cody 

JUDGE Andrew Cody wondered why a motorist who stuck a garden wall had not been charged with other offences rather than with one for criminal damage, after he heard evidence that the driver had left the scene of the incident?

Garda Dillon Hogan said that on 7 May he was dispatched to the scene of an incident at Derrylusk, Mountrath, after receiving a report of car that had crashed into a wall.

He spoke with the homeowners who showed him very clear CCTV footage of the incident. A short while later while driving in the area he stopped the man who he identified from the CCTV walking on the road and arrested him.

Gda. Hogan said there was €3,000 worth of damage caused to the wall and that the defendant’s insurance company had covered it.

Karl Dunne from 28 Cullenbeg Park, Mountmellick, pleaded guilty to the charge.

“It appears to me it was more than criminal damage, more like a hit and run as well,” said Judge Cody.

Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said the 41-year-old defendant had a long list of previous offences that included four for driving while uninsured and three for driving without a driving licence.

Agreeing, the accused solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said the list of previous convictions were accumulated in her client’s younger years.

She said that at the time of the incident Mr Dunne’s 13-year relationship with a woman had just come to an end and he “went for a drive to clear his head. His car came across some gravel on the road, and he lost control of it.” Ms Fitzpatrick said that her client no longer lives in Mountmellick and is now living with his brother in Dublin.

Noting that compensation had been paid in full Judge Cody convicted Mr Dunne of criminal damage fined him €300 and disqualified him from driving for six months.