A businessman has been cleared of obstructing traffic and failing to give information to gardaí last year. Jerry Beades (55), a builder turned New Land League leader, was before Dublin District Court yesterday to face his hearing in which he pleaded not guilty to two charges under the Road Traffic Act.
He was accused of parking a car in a manner that obstructed traffic at Richmond Avenue in Dublin and failing to give information as to the identity of the person who was using the vehicle. Both charges were dismissed by Judge Timothy Lucey. Mr Beades, who was granted free legal aid, did not have to give evidence during the hearing.
Garda Mark Ferguson told Judge Lucey that on January 4th last year, he received a report from a woman when an Opel Vectra reversed in front of her vehicle. She told the garda that the driver, who was not Mr Beades, was in his 30s, balding and she thought he may have been eastern European. The driver got out and went into a house 50 metres away.
Garda Ferguson said that the “vehicle was parked in a dangerous position on the road”. Nobody in the house would come out despite the garda knocking on windows. The car was causing an obstruction to traffic and was later towed. Mr Beades later called to recover it, the court was told.
He told the Garda Síochána that he had been in China on business and did not know who had been driving the car. Garda Ferguson said there was no evidence Mr Beades had been the driver.
Defence solicitor Brian Keenan asked for a dismissal arguing that the car was registered to Jerry Beades Concrete, his client’s company, which has its own separate legal identity, whereas the court summons was in the name of Mr Beades himself.
The solicitor furnished the court with a copy of the log book and argued that the proceedings were flawed. The summons for failing to give identity information was also brought under the wrong section of the Road Traffic Act, he argued.
Judge Lucey dismissed the case.