{"id":677818,"date":"2026-11-07T16:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T16:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/677818\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T16:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T16:06:08","slug":"unaccompanied-l-driver-leads-gardai-on-mad-15-minute-high-speed-pursuit-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/677818\/","title":{"rendered":"Unaccompanied L-driver leads garda\u00ed on \u2018mad\u2019 15-minute high-speed pursuit \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An unaccompanied learner driver who led garda\u00ed<\/a> on a 15-minute high-speed pursuit in a \u201cmoment of madness\u201d has been disqualified from driving for three years and told to make a \u20ac2,000 contribution to Spinal Injuries Ireland.<\/p>\n

Devidas Pilypas (22) pleaded guilty to two counts of endangerment and one of dangerous driving on August 26th, 2024.<\/p>\n

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court<\/a> heard that garda\u00ed in an unmarked patrol car became aware of a black Audi swerving between lanes and undertaking them.<\/p>\n

They switched on their blue lights and indicated for the Audi to pull over, but Pilypas instead increased his speed.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, the car stopped momentarily on the Old Bawn Road. One garda approached the car, and Pilypas took off at speed. The garda car had to take evasive action to avoid being struck.<\/p>\n

The court was told there was a 15-minute pursuit across local and national roads and the M50<\/a>, during which Pilypas often drove at excessive speed and oncoming cars were forced to take evasive action.<\/p>\n

On the Firhouse Road near the entrance to Dodder Valley Park, a woman crossing the road at a green pedestrian light had to jump on to the footpath to avoid being struck, as Pilypas did not slow down.<\/p>\n

He also joined the M50 southbound, cutting across three lanes of traffic. At the junction 12 exit, he appeared to be taking the off-ramp, but then swerved back on to the motorway, causing a truck to brake sharply.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Judge condemns \u2018yet another femicide\u2019 as man sentenced for Sarah Montgomery\u2019s \u2018brutal\u2019 murderOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

At junction 12 northbound he drove at another road user, forcing them to mount a footpath to avoid a collision.<\/p>\n

The court was told the pursuit came to an end on the Ballycullen Road after a stinger was used to stop the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Pilypas, of St Maelruaus Park, Dublin, was initially unco-operative and refused to be handcuffed. Garda\u00ed deployed pepper spray, and he was arrested.<\/p>\n

He was fully co-operative at the Garda station and made full admissions when interviewed. When asked by garda\u00ed if he believed he was in full control of the car, he replied \u201cabout 50 per cent\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pilypas has no previous convictions and has not otherwise come to Garda attention. He had a provisional licence and the tax on the car had expired.<\/p>\n

The investigating garda agreed with his defence that Pilypas was co-operative at the Garda station, saying Pilypas told him that he had panicked. \u201cI believe it was a moment of madness which lasted 15 minutes,\u201d the garda said, adding that in his view, it may also have been related to Pilypas driving on a provisional licence and the car\u2019s tax being expired. <\/p>\n

Defence counsel asked the court to take into account his client\u2019s early guilty plea, acceptance of full responsibility, and the contents of a probation report.<\/p>\n

Defence counsel submitted that this offence ordinarily requires a custodial sentence, but he asked the court to consider not imposing that immediately in light of the mitigation and his client\u2019s background.<\/p>\n

On Friday Judge Sheahan said Pilypas\u2019s behaviour amounted to \u201cserious offending\u201d.<\/p>\n

She noted that society has recently been made aware how devastating this type of offending can be and that Pilypas\u2019s actions had put innocent people at risk.<\/p>\n

She imposed a two-year sentence, suspended in full for two years on strict conditions, including that Pilypas make a contribution of \u20ac2,000 within six months to Spinal Injuries Ireland. The judge also disqualified Pilypas from driving for three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An unaccompanied learner driver who led garda\u00ed on a 15-minute high-speed pursuit in a \u201cmoment of madness\u201d has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,13553,51250,615,61,60,69197,43],"class_list":["post-677818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-circuit-court","tag-criminal-courts","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-m50","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}