PRISON FOR BALLINFOYLE MAN FOR GARDA CHASE THROUGH CITY

Date Published: 11-Jun-2009

A motorist who drove dangerously going through red lights and forcing oncoming motorists up onto footpaths while being chased by Gardai, has been jailed for 14 months.

27 year old carpenter, Robert Cranney, of 35 Ballinfoyle Park, Headford Road, pleaded guilty to thirteen counts of dangerous driving and one count of drunken driving which took place during a 35-minute chase from one side of Galway city to the other on April 12 last year.

Cranney said he went drinking after losing his job unexpectedly earlier that day.

Garda Michael McMahon said Cranney drove at speed through a checkpoint he was operating in Salthill at 2.20 a.m. and he pursued him in a garda patrol car.

The chase, he said covered 30 kilometres and lasted 35 minutes.

Judge Mary Fahy said Cranney should have been charged with reckless endangerment as he had deliberately endangered the lives of many people that night.

She imposed sentences totalling fourteen months, a €1,000 fine and a six-year disqualification.