Driving ban for man who rammed patrol car and injured Garda sergeant

A young man who rammed a Garda patrol car in Donegal injuring a Garda Sergeant has been put off the road.

Rian McLoughlin appeared before Letterkenny District Court charged with a series of incidents during last year's Donegal International Rally weekend.

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving, driving without insurance and endangerment.

Garda Sergeant Maurice Doyle said the incident happened just before midnight on June 16,  2022.

Sergeant Doyle told how McLoughlin drove his vehicle in a dangerous manner on the inner lane of the Polestar Roundabout in Letterkenny before swerving and colliding with a Garda car.

McLoughlin drove his vehicle on towards Station Roundabout and was 'drifting' around the roundabout, forcing a number of people in the area to take evasive action.

During the course of these incidents, he deliberately rammed a Garda patrol car and caused minor injuries to Garda Sergeant Michael Kilcoyne.

When McLoughlin was arrested, it was discovered that he was not insured in the car he was driving.

Garda Sergeant Michael Kilcoyne. (North West Newspix)

He was charged that on June 16, 2022 at Drumany, Letterkenny, did intentionally or recklessly engage in conduct whilst driving on the roundabout at Drumany, Letterkenny drove in the wrong lane and deliberately rammed into patrol car which created a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another.

Solicitor for the accused of Barrcregg, Claudy, Derry, Mr Rory O'Brien, said this was a bizarre incident and that his client had absolutely previous convictions for anything.

Mr O'Brien said: "He fully accepts his wrongdoing and he has as much remorse as any young man I have seen.

"All this happened because he realised he had no insurance. He is very remorseful and the whole idea was to evade detection because he had no insurance.

"For some far-fetched reason this is how he approached it. He could not have picked a worse option.”

The accused addressed Judge Eiteain Cunningham and said he was very sorry for what he had done.

McLoughlin told the court: "I am completely sorry for everything I have done. It was completely out of order. I have no excuse for what I did.”

Mr O'Brien said his client lived at home with his grandmother, was single and worked cleaning cars for a living.

Pleading for leniency for his client, Mr O'Brien said McLoughlin held his hands up straight away and stressed that he has never been in trouble either before or after this incident.

"It was a one time thing and he is very remorseful for it," Mr O’Brien added.

Judge Cunningham said it was ‘utterly bizarre’ that McLoughlin embarked on this type of behaviour considering he had no previous convictions whatsoever.

She asked for some time to consider her sentence labelling the matter as ‘very serious’.

"It's most unfortunate that he made the choices he did on the night," Judge Cunningham added.

When she returned, Judge Cunningham said she was treating the incident as separate matters.

She fined McLoughlin a total of €500 and banned him from driving for four years for the two charges of dangerous driving. Judge Cunningham fined McLoughlin €250 for having no insurance and also fined him a further €250 for endangerment.