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A woman who pretended she was calling her insurance company when stopped by Gardaí narrowly avoided a prison sentence for repeatedly driving without being insured. Tuam District Court heard that Sharon Ann Daly of 11, Cluain Lochna, Castleplunket, Roscommon had five previous convictions for no insurance when she appeared again charged with two more before Judge James Faughnan. The Judge told her solicitor Danny McGrath that a third conviction for such an offence normally merited a custodial sentence and this was what he was considering. The Judge heard that when stopped by Gardaí on August 14 last year, she went through the motions of pretending to ring an insurance company in a ploy to persuade Gardaí she was insured. However, the Gardaí checked this out and found no contact had been made. Daly insisted at the time that she was insured, but was not. She was stopped again by Gardaí in Tuam driving the same car on October 7 last year and the insurance disc displayed on the car was expired. She claimed that she had failed to put up her new disc but this was also checked and found to be false. Daly had 14 previous convictions, five for driving with no insurance. She had twice received four-year driving bans and a suspended sentence for the offence. Her solicitor said his client was married and worked in Elphin, Co Roscommon. She was not driving at present. However, prosecuting Garda Sgt Christy Brown said she wasn’t on the road because with her record she would find it difficult to get insurance. At this stage Judge Faughnan stated that a prison sentence could be expected after three convictions for no insurance and the defendant already had five on her record and now there were two more before the Court. Mr McGrath pleaded that his client had certain health issues which had to be dealt with. He said there was something happening with her but he was at a loss to explain it and requested a Probation report be made before sentencing. Judge Faughnan agreed to this request, ordering the Probation report, but disqualified Daly from driving from the day of the Court, October 28, for four years.
