A CAR dealer with a
string of previous convictions has been jailed for
ten months and disqualified from driving for 20
years.
Andre Sava, 68 Marian Park, Buncrana, pleaded guilty
at the local court for driving without insurance at
New Road in the town on April 3rd, 2007.
He also pleaded guilty to having no insurance at
Redcastle when he was stopped at a Garda checkpoint
driving a Northern-registered gold-coloured Mercedes
Benz on December 9th, 2006.
Sava already had five previous convictions for no
insurance and was currently serving a prison
sentence. He had 19 previous convictions in total,
the court was told.
Judge Desmond Zaidan took a dim view of the
offences. He said a man who could afford a Mercedes
Benz should be able to afford insurance.
However, defence solicitor Ciaran MacLochlainn said
his client bought and sold cars for a living. Judge
Zaidan indicated he was out of patience with the
accused. He imposed sentences of six months on each
of the two charges, to run consecutively and also
imposed a 20-year driving disqualification.
Mr. MacLochlainn appealed for some leniency saying
he would have expected "some change for a double
plea".
"He's buying and selling cars and he treats the road
traffic laws like this. How do you expect sympathy
from me? Judge Zaidan asked Mr. MacLochlainn.
However, he reduced the jail terms to five months
each but refused to allow them run concurrently.
Sava was granted bail on his own bond of €3,000 and
an independent surety of €6,000, of which €5,000 had
to be lodged in cash. |
