

Serial road traffic offender (32) is sentenced to six months in prison
A SERIAL road traffic offender was sentenced to six months in prison for driving with no documents while he was already disqualified for driving without insurance, reports Maurice Garvey.
Trampanir Lingurar (32), with an address of Maplewood Lawn, Springfield, Tallaght, appeared before Tallaght District Court with the aid of an interpreter.
Garda John Byrne, Terenure Garda Station, said that on July 11, 2024, gardai were conducting a checkpoint on the Cookstown Road, Tallaght.
A male driver and a female passenger were observed suddenly turning into Belgard estate to avoid detection at the checkpoint at approximately 7.05pm.
Gardai pursued the Citroen Picasso and observed the two occupants in the front of the car swapping seats, the female was now the driver, and both occupants in the front of the car were putting on their seatbelts when approached by gardai.
The male was identified as Mr Lingurar and the female as his wife Ms Lenteanu.
Five kids were in the back of the car, a family salon vehicle.
No documents were provided to gardai for car insurance, Mr Lingurar had no driver licence, and the car had expired tax and NCT disks.
The court heard Mr Lingurar has 15 previous convictions, all for road traffic offences, including a four-year disqualification for no insurance, which was still in place at the time of the latest offence.
Ms Lenteanu took to the stand to say the car is in her name and that she was driving on the night in question.
She said the reason for the deviation before the checkpoint was that they were going to shop to get milk.
Garda Byrne asked what shop they were going to but Ms Lenteanu did not know the name of the shop and her English is not so good.
Appearing with the aid of an interpreter, Mr Lingurar said he was sitting on the passenger side and suggested that the brightness of the sun affected garda vision.
Judge Patricia McNamara was satisfied with the evidence provided that Mr Lingurar was driving on the day, that he avoided the checkpoint, that there was a swap in the front seats and that gardai had a clear view at the time of the incident.
Judge McNamara was “not impressed” that the defendant went out driving while disqualified and handed down the maximum sentence available – six months imprisonment.
Mr Lingurar was also fined €750 with five months to pay and disqualified from driving for 10 years.
Funded by the Local Courts Reporting Scheme