Mother’s car found on its roof in Magheralin village

Conor McNally (18), McDonald’s Terrace, Magheralin, admitted a series of offences from July 31 last year.

For driving while unfit he was given 140 hours community service and banned from driving for 18 months.

Concurrent terms of 140 hours community service and six month bans were imposed for taking a car without the consent of the owner and driving without insurance.

He was fined £100, with another six month ban, for not having a licence and fined £120 for driving without due care and attention.

The court heard that at approximately 1am the injured party reported to police that her son had taken her car without her permission.

The car was found on its roof at Damhill Road, and it was badly damaged. McNally was located on Belfast Road.

He admitted that he had smoked cannabis before asking his mother for her car keys so he could get a lighter from it. He then took the car.

An analysis of a blood sample from the defendant showed that it contained a constituent of cannabis.

The case had been adjourned from a previous court for a pre-sentence report.

A solicitor representing McNally said the report showed he had struggled with various issues but he was now in a more settled place.

He added that his client accepted he still was not out of the woods and there was a lot of work to be done.

District Judge, Mr Mervyn Bates, said McNally was accumulating quite a record and on this occasion a litany of offences had happened from one foolish act.

He added that one good thing from the report was that when the defendant was given community service it appeared to work.