Not in the country for court date

beiersdorf

I've received a summons for a driving offence that happened in June 13 a few days before I left for Australia. I was caught speeding and I paid the fine but I forgot I had to bring my insurance documents to a garda station within 10 days of the offence.

As I will still be in Australia on my court date do I get a family member to show up for me or how should I proceed.

coylemj

beiersdorf wrote: »

As I will still be in Australia on my court date do I get a family member to show up for me or how should I proceed.

Yes, it happens all the time. Send someone down to the courts with the summons (will help to identify the prosecuting Garda) and an insurance cert covering the date you were stopped. As long as you can show that you did have insurance, the worst that can happen is a small fine for failing to produce but that summons is usually struck out if the main summons for having no insurance is also struck out.

Tell the family member to go early and track down the prosecuting Garda, the aim being to show him/her the insurance cert before the case is called.

beiersdorf

It says the name of the garda and the station he's in on the summons. I think I will get someone from my family to call him and see if this can even be sorted before the court date.

Santa Cruz

beiersdorf wrote: »

It says the name of the garda and the station he's in on the summons. I think I will get someone from my family to call him and see if this can even be sorted before the court date.

I would still advise to have some presence in court. While a Garda can make an application to have the case struck out the Judge does not have to agree to it. He may want to see the defendant or a representative.
Regardless of having the insurance there is a summons for failing to produce. Your failure to do so has resulted in having summonses issued.

coylemj

Santa Cruz wrote: »

I would still advise to have some presence in court. While a Garda can make an application to have the case struck out the Judge does not have to agree to it.

The judge has no choice but to strike out the summons if the Garda offers no evidence which is what they do when they tell him they have seen a cert. showing that the defendant was insured on the day.

Even the most pompous judge in the country can't convict someone in the absence of prosecution evidence. I agree that some judges do throw a wobbly when people fail to turn up but in cases like this and with a long list of summons to get through, they are normally happy enough to strike out and move on to the next case.

Santa Cruz wrote: »

He may want to see the defendant or a representative.

Such a 'representative' has no right of audience unless he or she is a member of the legal profession so they will not be called to say or do anything by the judge.

Santa Cruz wrote: »

Regardless of having the insurance there is a summons for failing to produce. Your failure to do so has resulted in having summonses issued.

The most you can get for this is a small fine. It will make no sense for someone to take a day off work to go to court if the Garda has been shown an insurance cert before the date of the court.

Victor

coylemj wrote: »

The judge has no choice but to strike out the summons if the Garda offers no evidence which is what they do when they tell him they have seen a cert. showing that the defendant was insured on the day.

Even the most pompous judge in the country can't convict someone in the absence of prosecution evidence. I agree that some judges do throw a wobbly when people fail to turn up but in cases like this and with a long list of summons to get through, they are normally happy enough to strike out and move on to the next case.



Such a 'representative' has no right of audience unless he or she is a member of the legal profession so they will not be called to say or do anything by the judge.



The most you can get for this is a small fine. It will make no sense for someone to take a day off work to go to court if the Garda has been shown an insurance cert before the date of the court.

I'm not sure if all of the above is correct.

coylemj

Victor wrote: »

I'm not sure if all of the above is correct.

Then maybe you'd enlighten us as to which of the individual items you think is incorrect.

Driving without insurance is a serious offence, you'd normally expect a hefty fine if you're convicted of that offence. However if a judge has a summons in front of him for driving without insurance and the prosecuting Garda states unequivocally that the defendant was insured on the day, the judge has no option but to dismiss/strike out the summons. The test in a criminal case is that the offence is proven 'beyond a reasonable doubt' which clearly cannot happen if the prosecution says there is no case.

Failing to produce is an offence which involves a nominal fine.

carzony

coylemj wrote: »

Failing to produce is an offence which involves a nominal fine.

The amount of people that fail to produce deatils is shocking. I'v actually forgotten to produce twice and have been to court for it..

On both occassions there were at least another 40 people in the same boat as me. What a waste of time for everyone involved though.

Pat Mustard

Order 6 of the District Court Rules can allow a husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter to appear on behalf of a defendant, with leave of Court, save where otherwise provided in law.