A Dublin man who, a judge said, “should never ever be allowed behind the wheel of a car again”, has had his life-long driving ban reduced to 40 years on appeal.
Blake Tobin (32), of Whitechapel Lawns, Blanchardstown, Dublin had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to multiple counts of dangerous driving, drink driving, driving without insurance, driving without a licence and driving while disqualified at various locations in Dublin on June 17th, 2012.
Tobin was found guilty by a jury and was given four six-month sentences to run consecutively by Judge Pat McCartan on February 10th, 2016.
The judge also disqualified him from driving for life, commenting that Tobin “should never ever be allowed behind the wheel of a motor car”. He had twice previously been disqualified from driving.
Tobin had his life-long driving ban varied to one of 40 years on Monday. However his appeal on all other grounds was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Giving judgment, Mr Justice Alan Mahon said gardaí had observed an Audi A3 overtaking them on the R156 Road which they pursued and it failed to stop. It drove on a country road at speeds of up to 160kp/h.
When stopped in Finglas, the car reversed into a garda patrol car, and drove again at high speed on the wrong side of the road, mounted footpaths and drove dangerously in residential areas.
Tobin, who was over the legal limit at the time, had 54 previous convictions including a significant number for road traffic offences and others related to possession of knives, possession of drugs and assault.
Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan, said the maximum sentence for the offence in question was six months which would "undoubtedly appear to many" to be low.
In the Court of Appeal’s view there were factors in the case which justified the imposition of consecutive sentences.
However, the court believed the Circuit Court judge erred in imposing a life-long driving ban in the absence of anyone being seriously injured or killed. In those circumstances, the court replaced the life-long ban with one of 40 years.