WHEN a Limerick mother-of-three was told her BMW car was going to be impounded because she had no insurance or driving licence, she told a Garda to “stick the beamer up your hole, I’ll just get a bigger one, you f**cker”.
But when she appeared at Limerick Circuit Court this week to appeal the severity of the sentence imposed by the district court, she was told that she had to make a public apology to the Garda for her “outrageous abuse”.
Jean Blake, (34) of Cosgrave Park, Moyross was convicted earlier this year of not having a valid driving license or insurance for the car she was driving when she was stopped by Garda Niall Deegan.
State solicitor Michael Murray said that Ms Blake gave a “very unique civics lesson in front of her children” when she was stopped by Garda Deegan.
When she was unable to provide the relevant documentation, Garda Deegan told her that he would be lawfully impounding her car.
She called him a “f**ker” and said that all Gardaí were “just a bunch of f**kers”.
She then told her children to “call your father” as she screamed at Garda Deegan, “you can stick this beamer up your hole, I’ll just get a bigger car, you f**ker”.
Ms Blake had convictions and fines for previous road traffic offences and had been banned from driving for two years in May 2013.
Ms Blake’s defence counsel told Judge Tom O’Donnell that on the day in question, “she had a lot going on her life that day and at that moment in time.
She was a mother to three children who worked as an administrator at a college in the city and needed her car to drive to work. She hoped to move to the suburbs and would need her car to bring her children to school.
“Her son had been the subject of an attack in the city and she drove a short distance to collect him and bring him to safety. I am instructed that she had applied for her license and that insurance cover was in place”.
However, Mr Murray said that a letter from an insurance company was not satisfactory evidence that cover was in place.
“An insurance certificate is the only form acceptable to the court and always has been. Letters from insurers are not indication of the full picture”, he said.
Adjourning the case to October 4, Judge O’Donnell said “the State is entitled to see insurance certificates, if they exist, but I would be more keen on hearing a public apology to Gda Deegan for this outburst”.
