Man pleads guilty to being carried in stolen vehicle that crashed following Longford theft

A man who pleaded guilty to being a passenger in a stolen vehicle which crashed and flipped over outside Mohill had his sentencing adjourned for the provision of an updated probation report.

Before Carrick-on-Shannon Circuit Court last week was John Stokes, 31 Townspark, Navan, Co Meath, who had entered a plea to the offence on May 31, 2022, of being a passenger in a stolen vehicle at Rinn road, Mohill, Co Leitrim, and theft from Keane's Costcutter in Drumlish, Co Longford on January 8, 2020.

Sgt Ronan Mooney, Mohill Garda Station, said Mr Stokes was a passenger in a stolen Mercedes on that date. The unauthorised taking of a Mercedes occurred in Oldcastle, Co Meath.

The car later crashed near Mohill and two sledgehammers and two nail bars were found in the boot.

The vehicle contained five occupants including Mr Stokes and at 4.09 am on January 8, 2020, CCTV footage showed it arriving at Keane's Costcutter in Drumlish, Co Longford. A theft took place of a metal hand trolley from outside the shop. It was too big to fit into the boot and so was placed across the knees of the three individuals in the back of the car.

The car was then seen arriving at the carpark of Baxter's Centra, Mohill in convoy with a jeep which had been taken at Bohey, Co Leitrim, just inside the Leitrim border from Drumlish.

Both vehicles pulled in and one of the men walked out to the road to act as a lookout and the others were seen conversing.

One and a half minutes later a garda patrol car was driving in the Cloone road in Mohill and saw the two vehicles and drove into the car park. Initially, the men all hid but once the patrol car had driven in, the driver of the jeep reversed and drove forward striking the rear panel of the patrol car.

The jeep then drove back into the car park and was abandoned.

All five persons got into the Mercedes and fled out the Cloone road and took the first right onto the Rinn road heading towards Drumlish.

On a right hand bend about a kilometre out the road the car lost control and struck a tree. The car flipped over and the front was on the ditch and the rear was in a field, suspended over a drain that was quite full at the time. Sgt Mooney said the speedometer was stopped at 140kph.

John Stokes, aged 33, was the front seat passenger and he was trapped in the vehicle while the other occupants all fled.

He was pinned by the steering column and was calling out, 'Patrick, don't leave me'.

Gardai stayed with Mr Stokes until the Fire Service and Ambulance Service arrived. He had to be cut from the vehicle. He called his wife as he felt he was going to die.

A number of weeks later he met the Gardai by appointment in Carrick-on-Shannon Garda Station.

Sgt Mooney said the accused's story at the time was that he had been taking controlled drugs and alcohol and after an argument with his wife a car pulled up and someone said 'John, get in' and he did. He had no real memory of, or gave any input into, what happened, only that he admitted to being carried in the vehicle.

Of the four others who were in the Mercedes with him, one was a juvenile aged 17 who has been dealt with by the juvenile court system, two others were arrested but no prosecution was directed, and the other person was unidentified.

Mr Stokes is a married man with six children and a seventh on the way.

He has 18 previous convictions which were outlined to the court including a four months prison sentence for no insurance and a seven year disqualification. Other convictions were for theft and road traffic offences.

Mr Stokes was represented by Daniel O'Connell BL who put it to Sgt Mooney that the theft of the trolley did not involve anyone breaking into the shop. It was valued at €200. The Mercedes that was stolen was valued at €3,500. Mr O'Connell said the trolley was recovered.

He said there were five people in the car and none of them were actually in possession of the items.

Sgt Mooney agreed but said the items were brought to the scene for a purpose.

The barrister said Mr Stokes had long-standing drug abuse issues and his judgement was considerably impaired at the time.

He completed an eight week residential treatment programme earlier this year and has recorded negative urine tests for drugs since.

Mr O'Connell said there was some concerning aspects of the probation report before the court but it was done before his plea was entered and Mr Stokes had not wanted to say anything that would incriminate himself. The report assessed him as at a high risk of re-offending in the next 12 months.

He said, however, Mr Stokes will now engage fully with the Probation Service if given the opportunity.

He said he has broken ties with the others involved and there is no love lost between them. He feels, effectively, they left him for dead in that vehicle.

He said Mr Stokes was ashamed of his behaviour.

He was seriously injured in the crash and suffered a broken thigh bone, knee, multiple shin bone injuries, a broken pelvis as well as other injuries and required multiple surgeries.

Judge John Aylmer said the greatest impediment was the probation report and he would give Mr Stokes a further opportunity to engage with the Probation Service and requested an updated report in light of his guilty plea. The case was adjourned for sentencing to the next sitting of Carrick-on-Shannon Circuit Court in February 2023.