'Young people can make mistakes': Teen convicted over incident during West Cork Rally weekend

Defendant stopped outside petrol station, blocking traffic, and performed a wheel-spin, throwing up clouds of black smoke

Defendant was charged with dangerous driving but State accepted a plea of careless driving, which does not carry mandatory disqualification. File picture

A young motorist who performed a wheel-spin in front of a large crowd during the West Cork Rally in Clonakilty last month has been convicted of careless driving.

Sergeant Tom Mulcahy said James Maguire, aged 19, of Churchtown South, Cloyne, Co Cork, was at a petrol station at The Miles, Clonakilty, at 11.10pm on Friday, March 13. 

The area was busy with people attending the West Cork Rally that weekend.

The court heard Maguire exited the petrol station in his black Toyota Corolla onto the main N71 road. He stopped the vehicle outside the petrol station, blocking traffic, and then performed a wheel-spin, throwing up clouds of black smoke. The manoeuvre was observed by a large crowd of onlookers and was also noticed by a nearby Garda patrol.

Maguire was charged with dangerous driving and his vehicle was seized. The court was told Maguire had no previous convictions, and the State was willing to accept a guilty plea to the lesser charge of careless driving, which does not carry a mandatory disqualification subject to the court’s discretion.

Conrad Murphy, defending, said Maguire had a full licence but was still a novice, meaning the maximum number of points he could accrue before disqualification was seven. 

He said Maguire was a “diligent young man” with no previous penalty points, who was due to start a job as an apprentice mechanic in May. He said disqualification would mean his client would not be able to commence the apprenticeship.

Mr Murphy said Maguire’s parents had accompanied him to court and the offence hit home because he was named after an uncle who was killed in a road traffic accident. He said Maguire was offering a guilty plea to careless driving and had been fully co-operative.

Judge Joanne Carroll noted Maguire had no previous convictions or penalty points, and accepted the incident was “a once-off error of judgement”. 

She said: “Young people can make mistakes. We all make mistakes. You have to learn from it and move on.” 

Maguire was convicted of careless driving, which results in five penalty points on his licence, and was fined €150, with four months allowed to pay the fine.

This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme