Graiguecullen woman cleared as Carlow court finds doubt over driver
There was doubt as to the woman being the driver of the car
A GRAIGUECULLEN woman who denied being behind the wheel of an uninsured and untaxed car had all charges against her dismissed at Carlow District Court last week due to an element of doubt. Stacey Byrne of Tommy Murphy Park, Graiguecullen faced charges of having no licence, no insurance, no tax and no NCT.
Garda Moulton gave evidence that on 19 June 2024 at 4.23pm, he was on patrol at Shamrock Business Park when his mobile device scanned a vehicle’s registration plates and flagged it on the system as having no valid tax or insurance.
He said that he observed a female driver turning into the business park and followed her, but when he reached the parked car, the driver was no longer in the vehicle. He noted that no insurance was displayed, the tax disc had expired in April 2024 and the NCT had expired in January 2024.
After checking a number of businesses in the park, the garda was unable to locate the driver and the car was seized under section 41 of the .
Garda Butler told the court that he found the car was registered to a Mr Josh Macken. He said he called to Mr Macken’s address later that day, where the door was answered by the 38-year-old Ms Byrne, who he “recognised as being the driver of the car”.
“She was wearing the same clothes and had the same hair,” he claimed.
The court heard that Ms Byrne was asked to produce relevant vehicle documents but did not and a fixed-charge notice was issued that went unpaid.
Insp Nolan asked Garda Butler how close he was to the driver on the day. He replied: “The car drove directly past us, several metres away. There was a bright, clear view into the car. I wasn’t driving; I was scanning car registrations.”
However, under questioning by solicitor Joe Farrell, Garda Butler acknowledged that he couldn’t recall the colour of the top the driver had been wearing and agreed that he couldn’t have seen what she was wearing from the bottom down.
Mr Farrell noted that Ms Byrne had denied she was driving at the time and that this denial was not recorded in the garda notebook.
Ms Byrne told the court that she denied driving the car but was familiar with it as it was owned by her ex-boyfriend, who was at home with her and her two children on the day in question.
“I know we were eating dinner that evening,” she said, adding: “I told him it wasn’t me; I was at home. The car wasn’t outside the front of the house. I was at home when he knocked on the door.”
Mr Farrell told the court that the defendant’s ex-partner had owned the vehicle in question but that it was “full of rust. It wasn’t even road legal”.
“He never used it; he bought it because he is a welder and, in the end, he sold it about a month or two beforehand,” Mr Farrell said.
The court heard that there was no CCTV to corroborate either account of events.
Judge Geraldine Carthy said there was an element of doubt and dismissed all charges.
