Judge warns disqualified driver not to re-offend
A disqualified Maghera motorist who jumped into her car to collect her partner, has lost her licence for three years at Magherafelt Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Twenty-six-year-old Edele McKenna from Tullykeeran Gardens was also given a 10-month jail sentence suspended for three years.
McKenna admitted charges of driving while disqualified and having no insurance on October 30 last year.
Imposing the penalties, District Judge Oonagh Mullan told McKenna that she had “a total disregard for road traffic laws”.
The judge warned her that if she came before the court again for a similar matter she would serve a ten-month custodial sentence.
“Think of your children before you get behind the wheel of a car,” she told the defendant who appeared remotely from her solicitor’s office.
The court heard the charges related to an incident at Glenview Estate in Maghera.
A defence lawyer said there was “an unusual set of circumstances” to the case as the defendant was eight-and-a-half months pregnant at the time and she “panicked” and jumped into the car to go and get her partner.
He explained she had been 12 months into her disqualification. The lawyer said while she accepted that she had behaved totally irresponsibly, he asked the court to consider the defendant’s mental health issues. He said she was terrified of going to prison and stressed she has kept out of trouble since.