A disqualified driver who drove in order to take his sick child to see a doctor has been handed a 12 month ban.
Court heard that the two children which the 30-year-old had been carrying were not properly restrained when he was stopped by police.
Slavi Mitev, Victoria Place, Lurgan, pleaded guilty to two counts of carrying a child under 13 unrestrained, using a vehicle without insurance and no driving licence at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
Prosecution outlined that on June 23, police on routine patrol stopped the defendant driving a Ford Galaxy on the Kiln Road, Lurgan, after checks showed it was uninsured.
Officers observed that the car had been carrying two young children neither of whom was restrained properly.
During a notebook interview, Mitev admitted that the vehicle was not insured and revealed that he did not have a licence.
The defendant told police that the children were usually restrained properly.
Defence solicitor Philip Reid admitted that there had been no child seats in the vehicle when it was stopped by police.
He stated: “This is a 30-year-old Bulgarian national, who has lived in Northern Ireland for two years. These were his own children and he does have a previous offence of a similar nature from 2018.
“He was disqualified from driving in December 2018 and this was a vehicle he had recently purchased with a view to getting back on the road.”
Mr Reid continued: “He is separated from his partner but has contact with the children. One of the children was sick and he had been taking them to the doctors, that is the only reason he was driving.
“He has since got rid of the vehicle and is not driving.”
Mitev was disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a fine of £450, along with the offender’s levy of £15, within 20 weeks.
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