Disqualified driver caught drug-driving just weeks after being hit with ban
The accused disclosed to gardaí she was banned from driving for two years when she was stopped. File picture.
A woman who was banned from driving was caught drug-driving by gardaí just weeks later.
Ciara O'Sullivan, of 10 St Canneras Place in Bantry, pleaded guilty to driving with cannabis and benzos in her system just weeks after she had received a 30-day suspended jail sentence for earlier road traffic offences.
Sgt Trish O'Sullivan told Bantry District Court that at 10.35am on December 15, 2020, gardaí on patrol in Bantry witnessed a Seat Ibiza being driven in a careless manner and straying across the white line.
The vehicle was stopped at Seafield in Bantry and gardaí spoke to the driver, who was Ms O'Sullivan. She disclosed she had been disqualified from driving for two years that November.
Gardaí detected a smell of cannabis from the car and observed that Ms O'Sullivan's eyes were glazed and bloodshot and they formed the opinion she may have been driving under the influence of an intoxicant.
She was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving and brought to Bantry Garda Station, where she provided a sample which tested positive for benzodiazepines and cannabis above permitted levels.
Judge Colm Roberts was told Ms O'Sullivan, who is aged 30, had 11 previous convictions, including seven for theft and also some relating to road traffic, including driving without insurance.
Sgt O'Sullivan said the defendant had appeared before Bantry District Court on November 6 last when she was disqualified from driving for road traffic offences.
At that time, she had received a 30-day suspended sentence and had been disqualified from driving for two years for having no driving licence. On the same date, she was also disqualified for one year and fined €100 for driving without insurance.
Those driving disqualifications were effective immediately and Judge Roberts noted that Ms O'Sullivan was caught drug-driving less than a month later.
Her solicitor, Eamonn Fleming, said his client was the sole carer for her father, who has dementia, and that her mother and sole sibling were deceased.
"She has been under a lot of pressure and dealing with a lot of things," he told the judge, adding she was "looking at 30 days [in prison] anyway".
Judge Roberts said Ms O'Sullivan had been "acting irresponsibly towards those for whom we are responsible", noting she could not say she was looking after her father – having been given an earlier chance by the court – only to then ignore the laws.
Mr Fleming, in asking the judge to order a probation report, said many of his client's previous offences were eight years ago.
Judge Roberts said he did not want a probation report to be seen as a "delaying tactic" but said he would request one before finalising the penalty, with the case next due before the court on June 24 next.
Judge Roberts said Ms O'Sullivan now needed to know that she had to be on "best behaviour".
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