A man spent a week in prison after being arrested because he had the same name as his brother.
Gheorge Bot appeared at Letterkenny District Court in Co Donegal charged with a series of driving offences but the cases against him were dismissed after Judge Paul Kelly heard of the mix-up.
To avoid confusion, Mr Bot’s barrister referred to him as Gheorge 1 – saying the alleged offences were committed by his brother, known as Gheorge 2.
Barrister Kathleen Henry said the man who should be before the court on driving charges was Gheorge Bot, of The Willows, Lough Na Glack, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan.
The man she represented – and who was in court – was a different Gheorge Bot, of Shercock Road, Bailieboro, Co Cavan, or Gheorge 1.
Due to confusion in the case, Ms Henry told the judge, Gheorge Bot 1 had spent a week in Castlerea Prison.
Native Romania
“The two men are brothers and there is a year of difference in age between them,” she said. “Their father is also called Gheorge and both sons were named in his honour. They even refer to themselves as Gheorge 1 and Gheorge 2. Gheorge 2 has gone home to Romania to his father-in-law’s funeral and couldn’t be in court today,” she said.
Mr Bot addressed the court and said it was a custom in his native Romania that a father gave his sons the same name. Gheorge 2 is now facing charges of careless driving and having no road tax, insurance, or NCT in Letterkenny on June 1st, 2015.
There was laughter in court as the judge commented: “It strikes me that as the father has the same name he was probably Gheorge the 1st, this man before me is Gheorge the second and the other Gheorge currently in Romania is Gheorge the third!”
The case was adjourned until September.