A woman who received an apology from a Circuit Court judge over his "improper comment" that Nigerians were "driving around without proper insurance" has secured leave from the High Court to challenge fines of €2,470 imposed on her for road traffic offences.
Ms Bukky Abebanjo claims she was deprived of a fair hearing by Circuit Court Judge Harvey Kenny when he upheld the fines imposed on her by Castlebar District Court following her conviction for five offences under the Road Traffic Acts.
She said she was "greatly distressed" by the comments made by Judge Kenny about Nigerian drivers and alleges he failed to properly address her personal circumstances and instead focused on her racial identity.
Judge Kenny later apologised for certain comments made by him about Nigerian drivers during Ms Abebanjo's appeal.
Yesterday, Mr Feichin McDonagh SC, for Ms Abebanjo, secured leave to take judicial review proceedings against Judge Kenny and the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to the conduct of her appeal by Judge Kenny.
Ms Abebanjo of Knockaphunto, Castlebar, is seeking orders quashing her fines. Mr McDonagh said his client was virtually impecunious and living on a subvention from the State.
She was fearful of having to undergo a prison sentence if the fines were not paid.
In an affidavit, Mr Kevin Bourke, solicitor for Ms Abebanjo, said she had instructed him to appeal the convictions and penalties imposed on her by the District Court to the Circuit Court. The appeals were listed before the Circuit Court sitting in Westport on January 14th last.
Mr Bourke said he attended the Circuit Court on that date with Ms Abebanjo and indicated to the court that the appeals were against severity of fines only.
Ms Abebanjo had given evidence that she was a Nigerian national. She had told the court that given her income, she would be unable to pay the fines imposed by the District Court.
While she was in the witness box, Judge Kenny had interrupted her, stating: "I don't think any Nigerian is obeying the law of the land when it comes to driving. I had a few of them in Galway yesterday and they are all driving around without insurance and the way to stop this is to put you in jail.
"Word must go out then in the Nigerian community that if you must drive, you must have insurance. I don't see anything wrong with the District Court order in this case. You are lucky you are not going to jail."
Judge Kenny had not given Mr Bourke an opportunity to make any further submissions or to call any additional evidence prior to the judge's deciding to impose fines totalling €2,470, the solicitor added.
Mr Bourke said he believed Judge Kenny did not approach the question of the appropriateness of the penalty to Ms Abebanjo's personal circumstances but rather was concerned with what the judge perceived to be the shortcomings of her racial group and what had occurred in another court in Galway on the previous day.
On February 20th last, Judge Kenny apologised for what he said he realised was "an improper comment about Nigerians driving around without proper insurance".