Mayo man tells court to 'f**k off' after claiming he did not get a fair trial

A WESTPORT man told a district court judge that he 'couldn't give a f**k' after he was convicted and sentenced to four months imprisonment.

Wayne Cooney of 7 Pearse Terrace, Westport appeared before Castlebar District Court where he was convicted of driving with no insurance and sentenced to four months imprisonment.

The 31-year-old Westport man had denied the charge against him but after he was found guilty by Judge Fiona Lydon he launched a tirade accusing the court of being corrupt.

“Sentence me... I did not get a fair trial,” he said from the body of the court as he interrupted his barrister who was speaking in his defence.

He added: “It is a kangaroo court that is what it is ...I couldn't give a f**k,” he shouted.

The court had earlier heard that Mr Cooney, who has 44 previous convictions, was charged with driving with no insurance at Kelly's filling station in Newport.

Garda Paul Lafferty explained that on July 30, 2022, gardaí received complaints of suspicious activity involving a male and two females at the rear of Kelly's filling station.

Garda Lafferty said when he attended he observed a Nissan Juke and damage to the passenger's side. He asked Mr Cooney and the two females about it but stated they were uncooperative and that Mr Conney and the two females left in the car.

Garda Lafferty explained that there was an earlier altercation between Mr Cooney and staff at the store and he viewed CCTV footage. He said from viewing the CCTV, he observed the Nissan Juke enter and exit the forecourt on three separate occasions and Mr Cooney was driving the car.

The court heard that the CCTV footage was not available to the court as it was not probably downloaded by Garda Lafferty onto a USB key. He told Judge Lydon that after he realised his error he returned to Kelly's but the footage from that day was deleted and not available.

Garda Lafferty said the defendant did not have any insurance to cover driving the car on that date and when questioned he said he denied he was driving.

In his evidence to the court, Mr Cooney denied that he was at Kelly's on the date or that he had spoken to Garda Lafferty at Kelly's that day.

When cross examined by Inspector Colm Mac Donnchadha, Mr Cooney accepted that the Nissan Juke may have belonged to his mother but denied driving and reiterated his claim he was not at Kelly's at all.

In her submissions, Ms Christina Burke, counsel for Mr Cooney said the onus was on the prosecution to gather all evidence available to them and the defence should have access to CCTV. She said that she did not know if the CCTV existed or not and the absence of CCTV should result in the case being dismissed.

However, Judge Lydon said that while it was unfortunate the CCTV was not available, Garda Lafferty was very clear he saw Mr Cooney driving the car and was satisfied he was guilty of the offence.

Insp Mac Donnchadha confirmed that Mr Cooney has 44 previous convictions and 17 of those were for road traffic offences including four for no insurance. He is currently on remand in custody awaiting trial in Galway Circuit Court.

Ms Burke said her client had a difficult adolescence when he would get into trouble. As she was speaking, she was interrupted by Mr Cooney who said there was no evidence against him and told the court to 'f**k off'.

Judge Lydon told Ms Burke to remind her client that he is not to use that type of language in court and to respect the court. She also warned other people in the court that similar behaviour will result in their liberty being at risk.

She sentenced Mr Cooney to four months imprisonment for having no insurance and agreed to fix recognisance in the event of an appeal.