Carlow man jailed for five months over St Stephen's Day collision
Carlow Court House
A MAN who was already staring down a lengthy driving ban was handed a further five months in custody after appearing before Carlow District Court in connection with a collision on St Stephen’s Day in 2024. Justin Snoddy (36), with an address at St Vincent de Paul Hostel, Old Dublin Road, Carlow, faced charges of not having motor insurance, failure to produce a licence, not having a valid NCT or a valid licence.
His solicitor, John O’Sullivan, confirmed to Judge Geraldine Carthy that his client is currently in custody.
The court heard that on 26 December 2024, gardaí attended the scene of a collision at Granby Row, Carlow town, where the defendant’s car had struck a parked vehicle. The court was told that Mr Snoddy has 24 previous convictions, including eight for not having insurance. In June of this year, he was disqualified from driving for six years and received a four-month custodial sentence.
In mitigation, Mr O’Sullivan said his client had gone through a break-up at the time of the offence and that “his life spiralled out of control so much so that he has ended up in custody”. He handed a number of documents into the court, including a previous probation report that had been used for a circuit court appeal relating to three counts of no insurance.
“He looks very well today, judge,” Mr O’Sullivan said, adding that his client was “availing of all the various services” available to him prior to going into custody.
Judge Carthy said the aggravating factor in the case was the defendant’s eight previous convictions for having no insurance but said she had taken into account his personal circumstances, along with a letter from the HSE outlining his current medical situation.
“There is very little mitigation,” she said, before imposing a five-month sentence for the no insurance charge, to run consecutive to his current sentence. She disqualified him from driving for eight years. All other charges were taken into account.
