Fifteen months in jail for multiple offences

A 31-YEAR-OLD man of Polish nationality was given consecutive prison sentences coming to 15 months, along with an eight-year driving ban, when he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, mostly consisting of road traffic offences, but also including one count of trespass and two of drugs possession, at a recent sitting of Monaghan District Court.

Mariusz Szymukowicz, of Mullaghmatt, Monaghan Town, and with previous addresses in Dungannon, Co Tyrone and Carrickroe, Co Monaghan, admitted his guilt in connection with offences committed in Co Monaghan on four different dates between May 2022 and July 2025.

The most recent counts were in relation to dangerous driving and having no insurance at Rarutagh, Emyvale on July 9 of last year. Sergeant Lisa McEntee said gardaí were on mobile patrol in the Emyvale area when they observed a black Hyundai Tucson travelling at speed. When the driver saw them, he took off, travelling at up to 120km/h on rural back roads.

His car had pulled away from gardaí, who lost sight of it at one point. At a junction they opted to turn right and, after travelling about one kilometre, they came across the Tucson stalled in the middle of the road, where the defendant was trying to restart it.

A few weeks earlier, on June 18, 2025, Szymukowicz was stopped in a different car at Tullygrimes, Monaghan Town, and he pleaded guilty to having no licence or insurance at that time. The defendant also admitted possession of amphetamines worth €20 at Monaghan Garda Station after his arrest on that date.

Admissions were also made to charges of trespass at Mullanarockan, Tydavnet, on October 10, 2023, in respect of which Szymukowicz had entered a building known as Farrell’s garage with an intent to commit a theft while on the premises. Sgt McEntee said an injured party had stated that his back yard was broken into, and that when he approached the yard he saw two males exiting the shed and fleeing on foot.

The defendant was found in possession of a penknife on that occasion, and had also entered a plea to having “crystal meth”, a synthetic stimulant drug, at Tullygoney, Tydavnet on the same date. Sgt McEntee said the drug was valued at €20, while the multi-tool penknife was found in a bag but was never produced or used in a threatening way by the accused.

The final set of charges dated back to May 28, 2022, and were for driving with excess alcohol, and having no insurance nor licence, all at Tirkeenan, Monaghan Town. Sgt McEntee said the alcohol reading on that occasion had been 63mg/100 in breath (9mg being the legal limit in this instance).

The sergeant said Szymukowicz had 11 previous convictions, including no insurance offences for which two-year driving disqualifications had been given in September 2022 and again in September 2024.

Solicitor Roisin Courtney described her client as a Polish man who was in this country for nine years. He carried the penknife because he was a mechanic and did work on cars.

He was accepting he had a serious drink and drugs problem in the past, but he had been clean for the last two years and is now working as a painter, the lawyer added.

Judge Raymond Finnegan told her the charges before the court were “cumulatively serious”, with some relatively recent. He pointed out to Ms Courtney that her client had been stopped on June 18 last year, and then stopped again three weeks later. And this was against a background of earlier convictions for driving uninsured.

“So he has run out of chances in my book,” the judge stated, before imposing a five-month prison term and a four-year driving disqualification for having no insurance at Tirkeenan in May 2022. A consecutive five-month sentence and six-year ban was given for the insurance offence at Tullygrimes on June 18 last year, with a further five months, again consecutive, for being uninsured at Rarutagh on July 7 last, together with an eight-year disqualification.

The drunken driving at Tirkeenan earned Szymukowicz a two-year disqualification and another five months in prison. This was made concurrent to the terms already handed down, thereby leaving him with 15 months to be served in total.

All the other charges were taken into consideration, with recognisances fixed in the event of any appeal.

* Published with support from the Court Reporting Scheme.