Banned 'joyrider' who drove at gardai has jail term overturned
A banned offender who was caught “joyriding” a scrambler bike on a Dublin greenway, driving at gardai at speed before telling them “I was only going 70km per hour” has had his three-month jail term replaced with a suspended sentence on appeal.
Jordan Grimes (27) was already serving a 20-year driving ban when he “narrowly avoided” hitting gardai with his bike, the District Court Appeals Court heard.
Grimes, with an address in Ferryman’s Crossing, Dublin 1, was convicted in the District Court of dangerous driving contrary to section 53(1) of the Road Traffic Act, 1961. He received a three month prison sentence and a four year driving disqualification.
He was also convicted of driving without insurance, for which he got a disqualification of six years and three months in prison to run concurrently with the first sentence. Another conviction for driving without a licence was also taken into consideration.
Garda Gerard Hanahoe told the District Court Appeals Court today that he was on patrol on the Royal Canal Greenway near Sheriff Street on January 5, 2024 when he saw Grimes driving an e-scrambler bike.
He said that Grimes was joyriding up and down the greenway and he became concerned with his manner of driving because there were a number of pedestrians in the area.
Garda Hanahoe said that Grimes’ face was concealed and that the bike had no registration showing.
He said that Grimes drove away when he approached, but then he saw another garda in a different direction. He said Grimes came back driving at speed toward Garda Hanahoe and his colleague.
He said that the gardai dismounted from their bikes, held them in front of them and shouted for Grimes to stop, but he increased his speed.
Garda Hanahoe said that his colleague attempted to stop the defendant using a spike and that Grimes “narrowly avoided” hitting him.
He said that Grimes’ reply after caution for his arrest was: “I was only going 70km per hour”. He told the court that Grimes was serving a 20-year driving ban at the time.
Garda Hanahoe said that there were no injuries other than the injuries that Grimes sustained himself and that he believed that it was not his intention to drive at pedestrians, but rather to avoid gardai.
He said that Grimes has 66 previous offences for road traffic matters and 17 for dangerous driving.
Defence counsel for Grimes, Lydia Daly BL, said that her client was “reckless at the time” but appealed for “one final opportunity”, saying that he is willing to engage with the probation services.
Judge Deirdre Browne said that Grimes has had a sentence and a driving ban imposed in the past for other matters but these didn’t “seem to have had an impact on him”.
She said that she thought that society would benefit if Grimes engaged with the probation services.
Judge Brown decided to increase the sentence from three months to six months in relation to both concurrent charges but suspended them both in their entirety for a period of one year.
She said that Grimes must enter the supervision of the probation service and comply with all of their directions, particularly in relation to drug counselling. His driving disqualification remains in place.