Longford woman escapes jail time for seventh no insurance offence

Denise Curran (38) 14 An Rat Beg, Abbeylara, Co Longford pleaded guilty at last week's sitting of Longford District Court to a string of road traffic offences after she was stopped on two separate occasions at Wolfe Tone Court, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford on July 23, 2021 and May 4 2022 at Toneywarden, Granard.

Sgt Conor McShane, court presenter on behalf of the State, told of how Garda Padraig Shanley stopped the accused who, seconds later, gave a false name.

It was soon found the vehicle driven by Ms Curran had no insurance, tax or NCT with it also being discovered Ms Curran was disqualified from driving.

That came after Ms Curran was hit with a ten year ban and four year suspended prison term on foot of being found guilty of dangerous driving causing serious harm at Longford Circuit Criminal Court in January 2019.

When it was pointed out to Ms Curran she under a driving ban, Sgt McShane said the accused began to “roar and shout” before fleeing the scene on foot.

The second, more recent incident at Granard occurred when gardaí were carrying out a checkpoint just before lunchtime.
Sgt McShane said officers on duty at the time noticed a car being driven by the accused pull in just short of the checkpoint in an attempt to evade gardaí.

When Ms Curran was spoken to by gardaí, it was revealed on this occasion that she gave her correct name before it was also discovered she was a disqualified driver.

Judge Bernadette Owens was told Ms Curran had 51 previous convictions on her record, 18 of which were confined to road traffic matters.

A further breakdown of those offences revealed that six of those were for no insurance.

The court heard how Ms Curran was handed a four year prison sentence, suspended for five years in January 2019 after she was convicted for dangerous driving causing serious harm.

That also resulted in a ten year driving disqualification.

It was further revealed Ms Curran's last conviction for no insurance came in September 2018, culminating in an eight year driving disqualification.

In defence, Frank Gearty said his client had initially pleaded guilty to all of the charges in July last year with the court also being privy to a “number of mitigating factors” which were aired at the time.

Mr Gearty conceded that while there were “very aggravating” factors connected to both incidents, there were certain underlying personal issues at play at the time.

He said in connection to the first incident Ms Curran had been accompanying her father who had to attend hospital, but unwisely drove the car home.

Mr Gearty said despite the car being seized, it was fully insured.

In putting forward mitigation concerning the most recent incident, Mr Gearty said Ms Curran had been forced to vacate her rented accommodation and had to effectively live in her car for three weeks.

He also said Ms Curran was someone who had endured an arduous upbringing and had been homeless as a teenager.

The local solicitor said the 38-year-old had been on the receiving end of a serious assault in Athlone when she was just 15-years-old.

He said Ms Curran had since made significant inroads in getting her life back on track, was steering clear of alcohol and was highly regarded in her current job as a hotel kitchen worker.

Mr Gearty said while Ms Curran's liberty was very much at the mercy of the courts, he implored Judge Owens to consider refraining from handing down a custodial sentence.

Following a brief interlude to consider her verdict, Judge Owens said the court was obligated to “balance proportionality” with any penalty it handed down.

“Ms Curran has very considerable and relevant previous convictions in particular in matters pertaining to the Circuit Court that was dealt with in January 2019,” she said.

“Equally, I have to give credit to Ms Curran for her plea and secondly the court has to take into account Ms Curran's personal circumstances.”

Judge Owens, in addressing Ms Curran's decision to provide gardaí with a false name, drive while knowing she was banned and to flee the scene on foot was behaviour she described as being “appalling bad”.

She consequently handed down a five month prison sentence, suspending its duration for a period of 12 months. She also banned her from driving for ten years.

For the second incident, Judge Owens issued a second five month prison term for no insurance, again suspending it for a period of 12 months. That tariff, she ordered to be served consecutively to the initial sentence with a 15 year driving ban also being handed down.

Judge Owens, however, made no secret of what potentially awaited Ms Curran should she come to any further garda attention in the intervening period.

“I can't state my position any clearer that if Ms Curran presents herself before me or any other court she will be getting a custodial sentence,” she said.