Derry woman charged with driving without insurance was victim of insurance scam court told
A woman who was charged with driving with no insurance was actually 'the victim of a crime' and had paid for insurance in what turned out to be a scam, her solicitor has told Derry Magistrate's Court as he asked for no penalty to be imposed by the court.
Amie Donaghey (20) of Melmore Gardens in Derry was charged with having no insurance after she was stopped on the Rossdowney Road on August 27.
At the time she was asked to produce an insurance certificate after police said that checks showed she was not covered.
Donaghey maintained that she was covered by insurance and produced bank statements showing she made payments through an insurance broker.
Defence solicitor Derwin Harvey told the Magistrate’s Court sitting in Derry on Friday that it turned out that the ‘broker’ she had paid was actually a scam, and that his client was the victim of a crime.
He said she had explained all this to the police, that she had insured her car through a broker on the Internet which turned out to be fraudulent.
He asked the court not to impose any penalty on Donaghey as she thought 'quite rightly that she was insured.'
District Judge Oonagh Mullan said she was minded to dismiss the charge but a prosecutor told the court that that could not be done as legally either a disqualification or penalty points had to be imposed.
Judge Mullan adjourned the case until May 8 to allow the prosecution to put their points in writing.