Dangerous driving accused sped away from gardaí at over 200km/hr

A young man facing multiple dangerous driving charges, including speeds in excess of 200km per hour after ignoring garda sirens and blue lights, has had his case further adjourned to May 15th.

Destiny Ezenna (19), with an address at River Village, Athlone, County Roscommon, appeared before Judge Susan Fay at a sitting of Athlone District Court, where he faced a number of dangerous driving charges.

He had previously appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens, who indicated she would consider imposing 240 hours community service.

Judge Fay initially stated she would be happy to finalise the case in Judge Owens’ absence and requested to hear the facts of all charges.

Sergeant Sandra Keane outlined how gardaí on patrol on March 10th, 2025, observed a vehicle in Battery Heights with black smoke coming from the exhaust. When they stopped the vehicle, they noticed a strong smell of cannabis coming from it.

A search was conducted, with gardaí discovering €800 in cash under the passenger seat, €80 of suspected cannabis edibles were also found, as well as a further €130 cash and two mobile phones.

It was at this point that Judge Fay interrupted, stating that “on revision, there are more summonses” than she expected.

“When I was given this, there didn’t seem to be quite as much meat in it,” she said, adding that it was “probably best” for the case to return to Judge Owens for finalisation.

Previously, the court heard evidence of how, shortly after eight o’clock on the evening of December 6th, 2024, a blue BMW was observed on Southern Station Road driving with no lights on.

The same vehicle was then observed driving dangerously on nine separate occasions on various sections of the Ballymahon Road, Clonbrusk, Cloghanboy and the N55, before it was stopped and gardaí identified the driver at the scene as the accused man.

The nature of those dangerous driving offences included a number of incidents where the car overtook multiple vehicles in a dangerous manner, forcing oncoming traffic to swerve or break, overtaking other vehicles at speed, entering a roundabout at speed, and driving through red lights and causing other road users to brake suddenly.

When he was stopped and a demand was made to produce documents, it was alleged that, while the vehicle was registered to Mr Ezenna, he did not have insurance or an NCT. He was also found to be driving without a licence.

This resulted in further charges of driving without insurance, NCT and a licence, and failure to produce insurance cert, NCT cert or a licence.

Three further dangerous driving charges relate to speeding on the M6 on June 19th, 2025, after 10.15 p.m. from junction 10 westbound in Athlone to junction 15 in Ballinasloe.

Gardaí conducting a patrol observed the vehicle driving in excess of 200km per hour and proceeded to follow the accused with lights and sirens but he failed to stop and gardaí were directed to slow down.

Mr Ezenna has pleaded guilty to a total of six dangerous driving charges including those from June 19th, 2025, and three from December 6th, 2024.

Patrick Carty, solicitor for the defence, previously told the court that this was “simply a series of very bad decisions” made in “a moment of madness” with an element of “immature bravado”. A probation report showed “a lack of insight” into his actions, and “a certain immaturity”.

Judge Owens, on his previous court appearance, noted that Mr Ezenna was admitted to bail in March of last year and so the June 19th charges were committed while on bail and would therefore result in consecutive prison sentences, should a custodial sentence be imposed.

Judge Fay remanded Mr Ezenna on continuing bail to May 13th, when he will reappear before Judge Owens for finalisation of all matters.

*Published as part of the Court Reporting Scheme.