A 27-year-old Derrygonnelly woman faces a combined £350 fine and has been disqualified from driving until tested for a number of motoring offences after she appeared before a recent sitting of Fermanagh Magistrate's Court.

Resident Magistrate Liam McNally heard how on Friday, 27th October, last year, police received a report of a road traffic collision at Main Street, Derrygonnelly. A pedestrian received injuries as a result. Police later called at the home of the defendant, Ciara Duffy, from Mill Green, Derrygonnelly, who confirmed that she was the driver. No damage had been done to the vehicle.

The defendant was interviewed again in early November and it was discovered she had no insurance, no 'R' plates, and no consent to drive the vehicle. The injured party, the Court was told, sustained significant injuries, including, among others, swelling to the body and a punctured lung. The defendant admitted to the charge of careless driving and she stated that the car belonged to her boyfriend and that she had no permission to drive it at the time.

Defending, Chris McGettigan told the Court that his client totally regretted the incident and asked that her apologies be conveyed.

SEPARATED

She was, he said, the mother of three young children and, on the evening in question, she was collecting her children from a contact visit with their father from whom she was separated. She had been travelling in her boyfriend's car for the purposes of the collection.

Her instructions to him were that she was neither speeding or driving erratically at the time: 'she simply didn't see the injured party'.

Mr McGettigan submitted that his client had passed her test on 25th August and that, at the time, conditions were wet and difficult, and her children were also being difficult in the back. She had been going through a hard time. She was separated from her former partner and she was under pressure. She was upset, he added, by the case before the court.

Mr McNally noted that she had no convictions of this nature. However, he said that he had reservations about her ability to drive on the road at all. He imposed a £150 fine for careless driving and disqualified her until tested. For driving without insurance, he imposed a £150 fine and disqualified her until tested. For driving without consent, he imposed an absolute discharge. For driving without 'R' plates he imposed a £50 fine.