A DONEGAL man was given the maximum sentence of one year in prison at Letterkenny District Court this week for dangerous driving after a 35km chase involving five Garda vehicles.
Stephen Orr (31), Trentamucklagh, St Johnston, Co Donegal, was disqualified from driving for 10 years by Judge Séamus Hughes, who described the matter as "by far the worst case of dangerous driving" to come before him.
The judge requested that Garda Insp Pat O'Donnell forward the Garda video recording of the incident to RTÉ's CrimeCall.
The court was told Orr drove at speed up the incorrect side of the dual carriageway outside Letterkenny in an Astra on June 19th this year during rally weekend.
Garda Pat Geraghty first saw Orr at 9pm at Bonagee but was unable to stop him. He radioed other Garda units and Garda Karen Walsh of the Drugs Unit tried unsuccessfully to stop Orr. "He then did a U-turn and headed back towards Bonagee and drove straight through the junction at Cullion Road, increasing speed, and then through the junction at Bonagee without stopping.
"When the Garda van tried to stop him at Trimeragh by blocking the road, Orr mounted the ditch and went around the van and entered the wrong side of the dual carriageway, and drove against the flow of traffic," he said.
The chase continued towards St Johnston, and as Orr headed towards Dooish he crashed into an unmarked Garda car, causing damage estimated at €3,100 to it. He sped off and gardaí again lost sight of him before coming on the abandoned Astra in a field.
"We found Orr and two female passengers hiding out in a ditch and arrested him for dangerous driving," the garda said.
The court heard Orr had 37 previous convictions, eight of which were for dangerous driving. It emerged he was on bail at the time of this offence and had been disqualified from driving at the time.
Patsy Gallagher, solicitor for Orr, acknowledged to the court his client had "an appalling record".
At the Thursday hearing, the judge told Orr it was the worst case he had heard. "The maximum sentence is 12 months for one event - if it had resulted in injury you would have been tried on indictment.
"The purpose of sentencing in this court is to inform the public what to expect if they conduct themselves in a similar way. If I could give you a two-year sentence I would," Judge Hughes said.
Orr's one-year prison sentence starts on the expiration of the sentence he is currently serving.