Off-duty garda saw cars driving erratically
TWO young men who were driving in convoy without insurance were fined €250 each at Carlow District Court.
Yarslav Virtichenko (20) of Coolbawn, Ferns, Co Wexford and Ivan Ananiev (19) of The Shannon Hotel, Enniscorthy appeared before Judge Geraldine Carthy and both pleaded guilty to driving with no insurance on the N80 near Ballon.
The court heard that on 23 March 2025, while off duty, Sergeant Guinan observed two vehicles driving erratically on the N80 near Ballon. After the cars pulled into Nolan’s Texaco service station, Sgt Guinan made a lawful demand for Mr Virtichenko’s and Mr Ananiev’s insurance documents, which they did not have.
Defence solicitor Tertius Van Eeden told the court that his client, Mr Virtichenko, who works part time and had no previous convictions, had simply forgotten to renew his insurance policy and asked Judge Carthy not to disqualify him from driving.
Judge Carthy convicted and fined Mr Virtichenko €250 with 120 days to pay for driving without insurance, while the charge of failing to produce a certificate of insurance was taken into consideration.
In the case of Mr Ananiev, the court heard that he had one previous conviction for careless driving from Wexford District Court in September 2025, where he was fined €200, with Mr Van Eeden remarking that he was “a lucky boy indeed”.
Judge Carthy convicted and fined Mr Ananiev €250 with 90 days to pay for driving without insurance and took into consideration the charge of failure to produce insurance documents.
