A PREGNANT woman, who a judge said had a “cavalier” attitude to legal requirements on the road, received a one-month jail sentence.
But Judge Patricia Harney suspended the one-month sentence she imposed on Shannon McGee (25) of St Joseph’s Terrace, Hospital, County Limerick.
Ms McGee pleaded guilty to driving without insurance or a current driving licence when she was stopped by a Garda on October 16 last.
The Kilmallock District Court heard that she was already under a driving ban at the time for a previous no insurance offence, for which she was put off the road for a year.
The ban was still in force at the time she was stopped for the offence before the court, Inspector Gearoid Thompson told the Judge.
She was also the subject of a bench warrant for failing to appear to face the charges on a previous occasion, the court heard.
Her solicitor said that Ms McGee was “unaware of the ban. She had moved to Spain at the time the original case came before the court.”
“She is a qualified barber and having her licence taken away will have consequences for her,” the solicitor said.
“Whether she knew or not, she didn’t get insurance for the car she was driving in October. Nor did she have a driving licence,” Judge Harney said.
When the Judge asked why she had failed to turn up on the last court date, the solicitor explained his client “is pregnant and she is suffering with it”.
Judge Harney said she believes Ms McGee “has a very cavalier attitude to all this”.
She sentenced the woman to a month in jail on the insurance charge but suspended the sentence for a year, provided Ms McGee does not get behind the wheel of a car for that time.
She also fined the woman €500.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.