A 19-year-old driver who was doing donuts at a road junction and sped away from off-duty gardaí was charged with dangerous driving.

Bill Harrington, of St Anthony’s, Codrum, Macroom, appeared before Macroom District Court to answer alleged road traffic offences relating to an incident on May 21st 2025.

The court heard that around 8.30pm that evening, an off-duty sergeant spotted the accused in a grey Lexus spinning around a T-junction at Castlelands, Enniskeane.

The off-duty guard put her hazard lights on before spotting another man filming the manoeuvre on his mobile phone from the side of the road.   

When the off-duty sergeant told the men to stop they sped away from the scene in the direction of Kilmurry.

The garda had two children in her car and was not going to pursue the driver, the court heard.

She found the driving to be highly dangerous and notified colleagues at Macroom Garda station to check the car’s registration, which turned out to be registered to Mr Harrington.

Gardaí later found the car at a petrol station at Coolcower with significant damage.

Mr Harrington admitted to Gardaí that he was the driver and was spotted driving in Enniskeane earlier that night.

Sgt Eimear O’Connell said the State was prepared to reduce the charge from dangerous driving to careless driving, which Harrington pleaded guilty to.

The court heard that the accused faced two further charges of careless driving resulting from a separate incident, with the State withdrawing one of them.

Mr Harrington’s mother, who works as a nurse, gave evidence saying her son had learning difficulties and suffered from diagnosed conditions including attention deficit disorder, dyslexia and dyspraxia.

Defence solicitor Sean Cahill said his client had no previous convictions and was currently working as a driver for a concrete company.

Mr Cahill said that the defendant had already received four penalty points on his licence from a previous incident.

He told the court that a careless driving conviction would take Mr Harrington over the seven point threshold for learner drivers, meaning he would lose his licence along with his job.

Mr Cahill added that the accused would become a fully qualified driver in November when he could receive more penalty points without getting a driving ban.

He therefore asked Judge Joanne Carroll to adjourn the case along with the other careless driving matter to November so his client would not lose his licence on conviction.

Judge Carroll noted Mrs Harrington’s evidence, saying she had clearly done her best in very challenging circumstances.

The judge also noted Mr Harrington’s guilty plea, agreeing to an adjournment to November 4th 2026.

‘He is a very young man and made a very serious error of judgment,’ Judge Carroll said.

‘If he comes to the attention of the Garda before November, there cannot be any leniency.’

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.