Cork man wins appeal after ‘turning his life around’

A man with a 10-year driving ban who drove his partner’s car after an altercation with her in the forecourt of a garage has successfully appealed against a three-month jail term for driving this car without being insured on it.

An aggravating factor that gave rise to the sentence of three months was the fact that he already had five previous convictions for driving without insurance, and was also disqualified from driving at the time, Cork Circuit Appeals Court heard..

Sergeant John Kelleher said the incident occurred on June 1, 2024, at Top Oil service station in Carrigaline.

Garda Ruairc Courtney responded to a call to attend at this premises at around 7pm that evening.

After the altercation that Thomas Quinn, aged 27, of Double Cottage, Lower Killeens, Blarney, Cork, had with his partner, he took her car and drove away in it, even though he had no licence or insurance.

The appellant’s barrister Elaine Audley said that the only matter under appeal was the prison sentence.

She said Quinn would be more than willing to do a community service order as he needed to be available for his family with certain matters arising in the coming weeks.

Ms Audley said he was now working and supporting his family and had turned his life around in the year since this incident occurred, and an employer reference was presented in court in support of this.

Judge Dermot Sheehan said that in view of efforts made by the appellant to turn his life around since this offence, he would increase the sentence from three months to nine months, but suspend this in full.