Banned motorist’s ‘bizarre’ driving
At Ennis District Court yesterday, Patrick Cotter, aged 54, of Church St, Bandon, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to six charges of dangerous driving in relation to a series of incidents along a 41km stretch of motorway from Cratloe to Crusheen on June 18.
Clare FM told motorists a driver was heading in the wrong way on the south- and north-bound lanes linking Limerick to Ennis.
Cotter was banned from driving for 30 years in 2012 at Limerick Circuit Court, and his 208 previous convictions include 19 offences for drink-driving and nine hit-and-run offences.
Insp Tom Kennedy told the court yesterday that the incident was ‘bizarre’ and ‘peculiar’.
Judge Patrick Durcan praised Garda motorcyclist John Reidy for risking his life in the high-speed pursuit of Mr Cotter.
Garda Reidy caught up with Cotter as he drove in the correct northbound direction near Ennis. “I pulled level with him and the speed I was doing at the time was 180km per hour. I looked at him and he looked at me. The window was down in his car and he was smoking a cigarette.”
Cotter left the motorway north of Ennis at Crusheen, where he was apprehended by Gda Reidy.
Gda Reidy said that earlier in the incident, Cotter was driving northbound on the southbound lane and northbound on the southbound lane near Bunratty.
In a subsequent Garda interview, Gda Reidy said that Cotter had no recollection of the events.
Stiofan Fitzpatrick, solicitor for Cotter, said the actions of Cotter “were those of a seriously ill man. He was not out for a cheap thrill on the day”.
He said Cotter has been a chronic alcoholic for several years and was Judge Durcan remanded Cotter on bail for sentencing on December 17 at Ennis District Court.
