Portlaoise Court: Laois professional MMA fighter put off the road for three months

THE Father, Son and Holy Ghost were cited at Portlaoise District Court last week when a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter was charged with a motoring offence.

The matter arose when MMA fighter Charles Ward, 35 Leylandi House, Mountmellick was before the court for having no tax on his car when he was stopped by gardaí at Clonreher, Portlaoise on 31 July last.

Garda Stephen O’Hanlon said that, at the time, the car had been untaxed for 207 days.

Garda O’Hanlon said he believed that the car had been passed between members of the same family in an attempt to avoid paying road tax.

“It seems to me that it was a case of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and being passed from Billy to Jack and nobody paying tax on it,” said Judge Andrew Cody.

He asked: “In the past 15 months, how many members of the Ward family owed the car?” 

Mr Ward’s barrister Anne Doyle said it was not the case that the car was being passed among her client’s family members.

“I have a track record for every car that I owned,” said Mr Ward.

Speaking to Ms Doyle, Judge Cody made the following offer: “If he doesn’t accept the garda evidence, he can give his own evidence (take the stand),” which she declined to take up.

“Has the tax been paid since?” asked Judge Cody, to which Mr Ward replied: “It was paid straight away.” 

The judge went on to convict Mr Ward of having no tax on his car, fined him €1,000 and disqualified him from driving for three months.

At the request of Ms Doyle, Judge Cody fixed recognisance in the event that Mr Ward wished to appeal the sentence.