A MAN who used a stolen car without a driving licence or insurance – and who was the subject of a binding-over order at the time – has been jailed for seven months.
The Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, told Kamaron Grant Cavey (23) that a jail sentence was the only option, saying: ‘The Probation Service tried and tried, and you have simply failed to engage.’
The Magistrate’s Court heard yesterday that a Ford Fiesta had been parked in the underground Castle Quay car park at 11.30pm on 23 August. The owner of the vehicle returned the following afternoon to find it gone.
Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, said that Cavey was then seen driving the car along the Avenue, with passengers in the back.
He admitted driving without a licence or insurance but denied stealing the vehicle himself.
‘He said he didn’t know it was stolen when he got into it,’ Advocate Taylor said.
The car was badly damaged at the front and inside but Cavey denied responsibility, claiming it had been damaged when he entered the vehicle.
‘It has not been confirmed who took the car, but the defendant was driving when the car was stopped,’ the lawyer said.
She added that, at the time, Cavey was in breach of a binding-over order imposed in August last year for possession of cannabis.
Advocate Francesca Pinel, defending, pointed out that her client had admitted driving without a licence or insurance at the earliest opportunity, but stressed: ‘The person who took the car has not been identified. There is no evidence that it was Mr Cavey.
‘He categorically denies that he caused any of the damage.’
Cavey maintained that he had been picked up by friends who were driving the car, and took the wheel because he was the safest driver among them.
But Mrs Shaw told him: ‘You have never passed a driving test. You were a danger on the road and you had passengers as well.
‘You might not have damaged the car personally, but you didn’t have insurance and you knew you shouldn’t have been driving the car at all.’
She added: ‘The court has no confidence that you would keep to probation or community service.
‘You need to start sorting your life out.’
Mrs Shaw sentenced Cavey to six months in prison for taking and driving away a vehicle without permission and driving without insurance, and an extra month for breaching his probation order.
The Magistrate also banned him from applying for a driving licence for a year.
