Gardaí had to flee checkpoint as Cork man sped through

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A man could be facing jail after he sped up and drove right through a Garda checkpoint forcing two officers to take evasive action in the incident.

Daniel Ring, 27, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving as he sped through the checkpoint in Ballydehob in Co Cork at 1.05am on September 8 last year.

Sgt Paul Kelly told Bantry District Court that two gardaí were conducting the checkpoint when a white BMW 525 series approached from the Skibbereen direction.

The court heard that the car’s speed increased as it drove towards the checkpoint and that gardaí had to run out of the way.

Sgt Kelly said the vehicle continued at high-speed but that gardaí managed to take down the registration number.

A week later on September 15 one of the gardaí that had been at the checkpoint noted the same car on Market St in Skibbereen and found a male in the driver's seat.

He was Daniel Ring, of 16 the Quays, Skibbereen. The garda told him she was investigating the earlier incident and asked that he inform her who was driving the car in the early hours of September 8.

Judge James McNulty was told that Mr Ring admitted he had been the driver. He said he had panicked as he had been speeding and he had no car tax.

The court heard he had nine previous convictions, beginning with a careless driving conviction in 2013. He had also been convicted on three other occasions of careless driving, reduced from initial changes of dangerous driving. He is currently disqualified from driving following his most recent conviction in Cork City last November.

Mr Ring's solicitor, Colette McCarthy, said of her client "his car was his life".

She said he worked in a local auto shop, which provided a reference on his behalf, but Judge McNulty said: "His behaviour in his driving towards other citizens is risky, to say the least.

"In this situation police officers were forced to jump out of the way as he drove at speed a very substantial vehicle.

"If either officer had been struck we would be talking about fatalities. It's not his first time," the judge added.

Judge McNulty said Mr Ring was looking at a possible prison sentence and adjourned the matter for one month, stating that if Mr Ring produced €2,000 regarding the dangerous driving charge he could avoid jail. He will also be disqualified from driving for two years.