A MAN who drove at more than 130km/h in an 80km/h zone has been told by a judge that if he gives €600 to a hospice his conviction, fine and the four penalty points will be wiped.
Construction industry worker Alan Kennedy, of Booterstown Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, told Judge Gerald Keys in the Circuit Appeal Court he would make the donation over the next three months.
Kennedy said he accepted the evidence of Garda William Dempsey that he had been driving at 131km/h an hour in the 80km/h zone approaching the Blanchardstown roundabout on the Navan to Dublin N3.
He told the court he had not received the fixed penalty notice in the mail and, having failed to pay the penalty, had been summonsed to the Dublin District Court on May 27th, last year.
Having explained his situation to District Court Judge Cormac Dunne he had been told that if he paid €600 towards the Harold’s Cross Hospice before July 3rd last year he would avoid conviction, fine and penalty points.
Kennedy said he had expected to receive notification in the post of Judge Dunne’s direction and had not paid the €600 contribution.
When he checked about the situation with the District Court office he had been told that, not having paid the charitable contribution, the conviction, fine and penalty points had been applied.
Kennedy appealed the lower court’s decision to the Circuit Court yesterday and told Judge Keys the conviction and points penalty would create insurance difficulties for him.
When cross-examined he agreed that, given the speed he had been driving at, the lower court had been lenient with him.
Judge Keys said that if he complied with the District Court recommendation and made the donation before July 8th he would allow his appeal on production of a receipt from the hospice.