Man attempted to evade gardaí in a stolen car in Louth

Dundalk District Court has heard how a Dublin man who attempted to evade gardaí, when he was spotted driving a stolen car, was on temporary release from prison at the time.

Joseph Boswell (35) of Cremona Road, Ballyfermot was charged with being unlawfully at large and the unlawful use of the vehicle without the consent of the owner on the Castletown Road, Dundalk on January 7th last.

The car, which was stolen from a driveway in Castleross, Dundalk between 12.30 and 7.30am, turned away from a checkpoint that night, with the driver believed to be trying to evade gardaí.

The defendant, who had 153 previous convictions, was on temporary release from Mountjoy prison at the time.

The Defence barrister said his client is studying a sociology course in custody and has aspirations to work as a mechanic.

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When Judge Nicola Jane Andrews pointed out the offence was committed while Mr Boswell was on temporary release, his lawyer questioned whether a consecutive sentence should be imposed, as that normally relates to offending while on bail.

Judge Andrews imposed a six month sentence for the car theft consecutive to the sentence currently being served, with the final three months suspended on him entering a bond to be of good behaviour for 12 months and marked the other charge taken into consideration.

The Judge also told Mr Boswell "If you wander back in here...I will deal with you in a very different way" and added "He needs to behave himself".