Belfast taxi driver spared jail for driving offence due to pandemichttps://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belf ... l-20246305Covid has had an impact on sending people to jail, judge saysA speeding taxi driver who claimed a friend was driving his car to avoid penalty points was today spared jail because of the current ‘global pandemic’.
Judge Neil Rafferty QC told Martin Kelly this was ‘the only thing’ that saved him from jail for perverting the course of public justice.
The Belfast Crown Court judge said the law and courts regarded his crime so serious and regardless of offender, “from highest to lowest, from cabinet minister to taxi driver” a jail sentence was demanded.
However, the pandemic presented courts with significant difficulties, not least public health considerations where sentenced prisoners must initially undergo two weeks isolation.
Judge Rafferty told Kelly, from Carlisle Terrace, Belfast, he would instead suspend his six-month sentence for three years.
Kelly, caught speeding in his Skoda taxi in December 2019, claimed a friend from Dublin was the driver but later admitted lying to avoid a fine and penalty points on his licence.
Judge Rafferty said while quite shocking, he could only assume the reason behind the act was to save having to pay increased insurance premiums as a result.
The judge added that given the pandemic alone and because he was a non-violent offender with a completely clear record he was prepared to suspended his jail term for offences which were always bound to ‘come home to roost’.
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