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A man who drove the wrong way down a busy road forcing motorists to take evasive action has been jailed for six months.Video footage of Kevin McIlmurray shown at a Co Donegal court showed him fleeing Gardai and then being hemmed in by other concerned motorists during the chase in Letterkenny. The chase ends with McIlmurray and his passenger being pulled from their car by other motorists and then detained before Gardai arrest them.McIlmurray appeared at Letterkenny District Court where he pleaded guilty to endangerment and dangerous driving at Pearse Road on June 18th last.After hearing evidence and viewing the footage, Judge Paul Kelly described the actions of the driver as “absolutely wreckless and potentially fatal”.McIlmurray of 43 Slemish Way, Belfast, also refused to provide a specimen after being taken to Letterkenny Garda Station following the incident.Solicitor Patsy Gallagher said his client’s father had been a victim of what he called the “Steak-knife purge” between 1987 and 1989 in Northern Ireland. McIlmurray’s father had been murdered six months before the accused was born.Garda Darren Carter said the incident began when he observed a black Golf car breaking the red lights on the Pearse Road.They proceeded after the defendant and managed to get him to stop and spoke to him. He appeared to be intoxicated but when he, Garda Carter, turned away to summon colleagues by radio to attend the scene, he overhead the vehicle driving off.The driver drove along the footpath and again broke a set of traffic lights before going back on the roadway. As Gardai followed him, he weaved through oncoming traffic, forcing other motorists to take evasive action to avoid colliding with him.He continued to drive on the incorrect side of the road before he was unable to go any further due to the heavy volume of traffic.“We came up behind him in the patrol car with the lights flashing. I exited the patrol car and ran up behind him and he reversed towards me.”The car continued reversing and then mounted the footpath . “A number of pedestrians had to literally jump out of his way.”McIlmurray had stopped short of another vehicle which had previously pulled.He, Garda Carter, got the driver’s door of the vehicle and leaned in to remove the keys from the ignition. Defendant had then driven forward resulting in Garda witness striking his left forearm off a structure.Garda Carter eventually succeeded in pulling the keys out of the ignition and defendant was removed from the vehicle and arrested.He was handcuffed and taken to Letterkenny Garda Station where he was given the option of providing a sample to determine alcohol levels but refused.A small quantity of cannabis herb was located in the defendant’s car.McIlmurray had seventeen previous convictions in Northern Ireland including eleven road traffic offences, obstruction of a police officer, driving with no insurance, disorderly conduct and two cases of interfering with vehicles.Questioned by defending solicitor, Patsy Gallagher, Garda Carter said no vehicles or pedestrians had been hit during the incident.Mr Gallagher said his client’s father had been a victim of what he called the “Steak-knife purge” in Northern Ireland between 1987 and 1989. Defendant, who grew up in the Anderstown area of Belfast, was born six months after his father’s murder.On the day of the incident in Letterkenny, defendant was in a “dark place” and had made a bad mistake in coming to Letterkenny during the Rally weekend.When the Gardai had stopped him initially, his friend, a passenger in the car, had shouted to him to “go, go, go” and he had driven off.“He fully accepts that what he did was wrong,” said Mr Gallagher who stated that his client had broken all ties with the individual who had accompanied him on the date of the offences. He had taken steps to get his own life back on the straight and narrow.The solicitor appealed to Judge Kelly to allow time for a report on the defendant to be furnished from the authorities in Belfast.Pointing out that the event referred to by Mr Gallagher had taken place thirty years previously before the defendant was born, Judge Kelly described the incident in Letterkenny as “shocking and terrifying”.Commenting on the video footage which he had viewed, he said McIlmurray’s driving was “absolutely wreckless, dangerous, and potentially fatal.” During the incident, his accomplice had been trying to wave people out of the way.Shown disregard for his own safety, Garda Carter had bravely intervened and had been fortunate to escape with only a minor injury when the defendant had driven off as he, Garda Carter, attempted to retrieve the key from the ignition.Judge Kelly said he did not believe a report from the authorities in Northern Ireland would be of any assistance in the case.Defendant was subsequently sentenced to two terms of six months imprisonment on respective charges of endangerment and dangerous driving with the sentences to run concurrently. He was also banned from driving for two years on the dangerous driving charge.On the charge of refusing to provide a specimen, he was fined €500 and disqualified from driving for four years.Man who fled Gardai on wrong side of busy road jailed for six months was last modified: June 3rd, 2017 by StephenShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Tags:courtdonegalGardaiKevin McIlmurrayletterkenny read more