McGregor tells the judge to ‘relax’ after court fines him €400 for speeding offence
CONOR McGregor told a judge to “relax” after he was fined
€400 in court for a speeding offence.
The UFC fighter appeared at Blanchardstown District Court yesterday after he was compelled to by Judge Miriam Walsh.
McGregor (29) had been due in court yesterday morning but sent a solicitor to handle the case in his absence. He was charged with exceeding the
100kmh limit on the N7 Naas Road at Rathcoole on March 31.
The Dubliner arrived at court to accept his fine in the afternoon. McGregor posted a number of photos on social media site Instagram following the appearance, one featuring a snap of the high powered BMW sports car he showed up to court in, with the hashtag #relaxjudge.
Speaking after his case was handled, McGregor also played down reports that he was involved in a pub brawl with a relative of a senior Kinahan cartel member. The UFC champion described the claims as “b***ocks” as he left.
McGregor arrived at the west Dublin court in a 2016 BMW
i8 sports car worth around
€130,000 and wearing a green Adidas tracksuit. At a previous hearing Judge Walsh said that if any defendant wanted to make an argument, that person must attend court themselves or send a legal representative.
Solicitor Graham Kenny said McGregor was pleading guilty. He said that when his client returned the fixed penalty notice issued to him he had neglected to put his middle name ‘Anthony’ on it.
But Judge Walsh said that if McGregor wanted to offer mitigation or make a case he “has to be here”.
“I’m getting nothing but fingers from Mr McGregor. If he wants to make a case he has to be here,” she said.
“This is absolute disrespect to the court,” she added, saying a “bench warrant will be coming his way” if he did not turn up.
Mr Kenny said he would call McGregor at once. Judge Walsh told Mr Kenny to “tell him of my ire” and put the case back to second calling.
He spent some time in a consultation room with his solicitor and a friend before appearing in court.
Garda William Dempsey told the court he had detected McGregor doing 158kmh in a 100kmh area on the Naas Road and a fixed penalty notice was issued to him but not paid.
McGregor took the stand and said “good afternoon” to Judge Walsh.
The judge asked if he had heard the evidence of the speed he was accused of doing and he replied: “I can’t remember to be honest but I tried my best to pay it. I don’t know why it didn’t pay.”
Mr Kenny said his client was submitting a guilty plea, which the judge said she would accept.
“As is my normal question in relation to the fine I have to ask you a question, how much do you earn? And don’t tell me you earn €110m in one day,” she said to laughter from McGregor and the court.
“Well, 140,” McGregor replied. Judge Walsh then fined McGregor €400 and gave him two months to pay, adding that he could “pay by instalments”.
She told him that despite his good fortune in life he should take cognisance of other road users and reduce his speed.