A YOUNG driver with an “appalling” record escaped going to jail this Tuesday after a judge heard how he has made massive efforts to get his life back on track.
Dylan Williams-Carroll (25) of Arraview, Newcastle West, pleaded guilty before Newcastle West District Court to a number of charges including drink driving, driving without insurance, and driving while disqualified.
The accused man has 39 previous convictions, Judge Carol Ann Coolican was told.
The court heard that he was stopped while behind the wheel on two occasions, days apart, the first time on September 1, 2019, on Bishop Street in Newcastle West.
He was driving without insurance and was found to be over the drink-driving alcohol limit.
On September 12, he was stopped while driving at Ballybronagher in Patrickswell. He pleaded guilty to driving without insurance and driving while disqualified on that occassion.
Mr Williams-Carroll’s solicitor, Ted Mc Carthy, said that Judge Coolican will have received “a quite positive report from the probation and welfare service. He now has a full-time job and is well regarded by his employers”.
Mr McCarthy said his client has not come to Garda attention since last being in court “and it is a measure of how much he wants to turn his life around that he has left his environment and the influence of his peers”.
Judge Coolican said that while “driving while disqualified is a very serious matter, which merits a jail sentence, and while he has an appalling record, it is balanced against his not coming to Garda notice and his stable employment”.
She sentenced him to three months in jail but suspended the sentence for 12 months, disqualifying him from driving for a total of eight years and imposing fines totalling €1,250.
