‘He can ask his brother to serve the sentence’

A MAN who was caught driving while already disqualified, and while on the tail end of a suspended sentence, ran out of road at a recent sitting of Monaghan District Court when he was imprisoned for five months.

In passing sentence, Judge Raymond Finnegan suggested that the defendant could ask his brother, whom he had been driving to work, to go to prison in his place!

Romas Mingele (32) with an address at York Street, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan had admitted that he had no insurance on a car at Cornamucklaglass, Ballybay on February 19, 2025.

It was noted by Sergeant Lisa McEntee that the defendant had 14 previous convictions, the most recent handed down in February 2023 when he was given a five-year disqualification for no insurance and drink driving. He was also handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

Sgt McEntee confirmed the offence before the court would be the accused’s fifth no-insurance offence.

She also confirmed to Judge Finnegan that this meant Mingele was not only disqualified at the time of the latest offence before the court, but also under a suspended prison sentence.

Niall Fox, solicitor, said his client was a married man who had two young children and was in Ireland since 2009. On this occasion his brother needed to get to work and he decided to drive him to Ballybay. He was accepting he shouldn’t have been on the road.

“He can ask his brother to serve the five-month sentence that he’s now receiving,” Judge Finnegan remarked, adding that suspended sentences clearly weren’t working in this man’s case.

The judge duly imposed five months’ imprisonment on Mingele, along with an eight-year disqualification from driving. Recognisances for any appeal were set at €250, to be lodged in cash.

* This article is published with support from the Court Reporting Scheme