Bressie escapes speeding rap

Voice of Ireland star Niall “Bressie” Breslin had a speeding prosecution thrown out after a judge heard the singer was “nominated” for an offence which happened when he was out of the country.

The 33-year-old former Blizzards frontman had been summonsed to appear at Dublin District Court this morning and turned up to face the music even though he had not even been in Ireland when the offence was allegedly committed, on April 17 last year.

In the court summons he was said to have exceeded the 80 kph speed limit on the N4 bypass near the Esker Estate, in Lucan, Dublin while driving a 2012, Westmeath registered vehicle.

But he was cleared after Judge Patrick Clyne said it would be “gravely unfair to the defendant” if the prosecution were to proceed.

The case had been initiated when another person had initially received a fixed penalty speeding fine, but had used a nomination process to say Breslin, from Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, was the driver who had been responsible.

The ‘Trust Me, I'm A Doctor’ singer was allowed leave court before his case was called and later on a traffic garda explained to Judge Clyne that it had emerged Breslin had evidence showing he had been out of the country at the time of the alleged speeding incident.

The case stemmed from Breslin being nominated by another person, the district court was told.

The garda confirmed to the court that he was satisfied the singer turned Voice of Ireland coach “was out of the jurisdiction at the time”.

The judge voiced concerns that the nomination facility in relation to the fixed penalty fines was open to abuse saying “they could nominate Tom Dunne!”.

He then added that it would be “gravely unfair to the defendant” for the case to proceed and agreed to the garda's request to strike out the prosecution.

No evidence was given during the hearing as to the identity of the person who had nominated the singer-song writer or if there will be any implications for them.