‘PERJURY’ BY CAR’S DRIVER

DENIALS BY a 33-year-old man that he was driving a Mercedes which drove at speeds of more than 140 km/h in Ballymoney were branded perjury by Judge Gerard Haughton.

And supporting evidence by the wife of accused Myles Doran of 50 Coolbawn, Ferns, were similarly dismissed during a hearing at Gorey District Court which ended in imposition of a jail sentence.

The defendant, already doubly disqualified from holding a licence, stood charged with dangerous driving and of having no insurance to cover his driving on the evening of July 5, 2014.

Garda Mick Dee told how he was on patrol in the area when the blue Mercedes turned into the side road where the patrol car was waiting.

Dee asked Reserve Garda Karen Duffy to get out and request the driver to turn out his headlights and turn off the ignition but instead the defendant reversed out and took off at speed.

The court heard how oncoming traffic had to take evasive action as Doran went around bends on the wrong side of the road. At one point a pedestrian had to jump into the ditch as the Merc sped by at a rate far in excess of the 80 km/h limit.

The pursuing garda car lost track of it, but Garda Dee traced 01D40815 to a cousin of the accused resident in Carlow, who was the registered owner.

Photographs on the Garda ‘Pulse’ computer system allowed him to identify Josh Doran as the offending motorist.

Karen Duffy, no longer a member of the Garda reserve, spoke of how she had been afraid that the car would run her over. Like her former colleague, she too stood by her identification of Doran as the person who was at the wheel in the face of rigorous cross-examination by barrister Eamonn O’Moore

The accused man, under oath, stated that he had been with his family at Fat Cats chipper with his family on the evening in question. He maintained that they later went shopping in Dunnes Stores and then went on to the Blackwater Lodge. This version of events was supported by his wife Kathleen O’Brien Doran.

However, Judge Haughton was not impressed by the defendant’s testimony stating: ‘I don’t believe him.’ The court had been given perjured evidence, he concluded.

Prosecuting Inspector Mark Foley revealed that Doran had five previous convictions for motor insurance offences already on his record, earning himself a six-year disqualification from driving for six years in 2011. He was subsequently banned for eight years in 2014.

The judge described the driving in Ballymoney and Kiltennel as atrocious, meriting six months in prison with a ten-year ban from holding a licence.

Notice of appeal was lodged by the defendant who was released on bail.