A man who tried to ram two garda cars in Tralee while serving a driving ban has been disqualified from driving for 10 years and will serve prison time.
Anthony O’Donovan, of 10a Pembroke Street, Tralee, committed the offences in March this year while driving without a driving licence or valid insurance.
He pleaded guilty to five charges relating to these incidents at Tralee District Court.
He also pleaded guilty to theft of property worth €4.10 arising from an incident of shoplifting on January 30th.
Sergeant Chris Manton told the court that a garda car patrolling the Monavalley area on March 11th noticed Mr O’Donovan’s car leaving Shanakill Estate.
Mr O’Donovan took off before performing a U-turn in Monavalley Industrial Estate.
One garda got out of the patrol car and approached the vehicle, when Mr O’Donovan drove head-on towards the patrol car.
Sgt Manton said gardaí had to take evasive action to avoid Mr O’Donovan’s vehicle.
The court heard that the next day, gardaí noticed Mr O’Donovan’s car on Rock Street at about 8:30am.
When the garda patrol car approached Mr O’Donovan’s vehicle, he revved the engine, and again took off in the direction of the patrol car.
Sgt Manton told the court the gardaí again had to take evasive action to avoid Mr O’Donovan’s car.
Mr O’Donovan then sped off, before crashing on Pembroke Street, where he was identified and arrested.
The court heard that Mr O’Donovan did not have a licence or insurance on the dates in question, and was serving a four-year driving ban handed down to him in 2020 in Limerick.
Defending solicitor Pádraig O’Connell admitted Mr O’Donovan has a very bad previous record, and the way he acted was unacceptable.
He said there was full co-operation with gardaí and urged Judge Waters to backdate any prison sentence to when he first came into custody on March 13th.
Judge David Waters convicted Mr O’Donovan of two counts of driving without a licence, two counts of driving without insurance, one count of dangerous driving, and the one count of theft.
Mr O’Donovan was disqualified from driving for 10 years, and will serve seven months in prison, backdated by Judge Waters to March 13th.
