A teenage motorist who was spotted doing “donuts” in his car by an off-duty garda sped away from the scene when she asked him to stop, the district court has heard.
Sergeant Eimear O’Connell told Macroom District Court the incident occurred at a T-junction at Castlelands, Enniskeane, Co Cork, at 8.28pm on the evening of May 21, 2025.
The court was told an off-duty garda sergeant was driving with her young children in the car when she came upon a grey Lexus car spinning around at the junction doing “donuts”. The driver of the car was identified as Bill Harrington, aged 19, of Saint Anthony’s, Codrum, Macroom. Another man was filming the activity on a mobile phone.
When the garda called at the men to stop, she was “jeered at” and the culprits sped away from the scene. The garda felt the driving she observed was highly dangerous and she called colleagues to check the registration of the vehicle, which was registered to Harrington.
Gardaí from Macroom later located the vehicle at a service station at Coolcower, Macroom, where there was damage evident to the front of the car. Harrington admitted he was the driver of the car and had been driving it at Enniskeane where he was observed earlier on.
The court heard the State was prepared to reduce the charge from one of dangerous driving to the lesser charge of careless driving, to which Harrington was pleading guilty. The court was told Harrington faced two further careless driving charges relating to a separate incident, one of which the State was withdrawing.
Giving evidence, Harrington’s mother said he had learning difficulties and suffered from a number of diagnosed conditions and was home-schooled for some time. She said she believed he had matured since the incident and was now working full time as a truck driver.
Defence solicitor Sean Cahill said Harrington had no previous convictions and worked as a driver for a ready mix concrete company, where he was a valued employee. He said Harrington had already incurred four penalty points for bald tyres and as a novice a careless driving conviction would take him over the seven point maximum and lead to disqualification, which would mean he would lose his job.
Mr Cahill said Harrington would become a fully qualified driver in November, at which point he could incur more penalty points without a disqualification. He asked Judge Joanne Carroll to adjourn the matter and the second careless driving matter to November so Harrington would not lose his licence on conviction.
Judge Carroll said it was clear Harrington would lose his job if convicted now and she noted his mother’s evidence and the fact Harrington had pleaded guilty. She agreed to adjourn all matters for finalisation to November 4, 2026.
This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme