Disqualified driver is given a jail sentence

A disqualified driver who took his car to get to work because he missed his taxi was jailed for a total of eight months last Wednesday at Craigavon Magistrates Court.
Craigavon Court House. INLM0311-117gcCraigavon Court House. INLM0311-117gc
Craigavon Court House. INLM0311-117gc

Krzysztof Dawid Jankowski, Union Street, Portadown, admitted driving while disqualified on July 27 this year.

For this offence he was sentenced to four months in prison and banned from driving for three years.

He was jailed for one month and banned for three years for not having insurance, fined £100 for not having a vehicle test certificate and £100 fines were imposed on four charges of having a defective tyre on his vehicle.

Four months of two suspended sentences were also put into operation to run consecutively making a total of eight months in custody.

The court heard that Jankowski was stopped at a vehicle checkpoint on the Mullatine Road and checks revealed there was no insurance and he was a disqualified driver.

The four tyres on the car were below the required depth thread.

The case had been adjourned from a previous court so that a pre-sentence report could be obtained.

A barrister representing the defendant said he had been given a suspended sentence for driving while disqualified and was one of those people who doesn’t put enough weight on motoring offences.

He added that there were recommendations in the report concerning community service and he could arrange that around his shift patterns.

But, added the barrister, he had told Jankowski he was in a difficult situation.

He explained that on this occasion his client had missed his taxi and had driven to and from work.

District Judge, Mr Peter King, said the defendant had 26 previous convictions and the bulk of them were for road traffic offences.

He added that Jankowski was a disqualified drink driver and the court had to protect members of the public.