Man with no intention to pay Court fines jailed

Tuesday 20 February 2018

A 19-year-old man with a history of driving offences, who said he had no intention to pay fines imposed in the Magistrate's Court, has been sentenced to more than 36 weeks in prison.

Jose Filipe Nascimento Rocha appeared in Court after he breached his community service order, and failed to insure his vehicle, which he was already disqualified from driving.

He had been sentenced to 150 hours of community service in October 2017 and fined £399 for driving whilst disqualified and without insurance, as well as petrol theft.

On 10 November, police officers noticed that Rocha's blue Peugeot, which was parked at First Tower car park, didn't have an insurance disk. Advocate Martin Elks, defending, assured the Court that Rocha had not driven the vehicle, which had been previously insured, and intended to sell it. 

Furthermore, Rocha failed to report for community service on 7 January and failed to pay his fine.

Magistrate Bridget Shaw said the sentencing was complicated as a number of elements had to be taken into account.

She noted that it was Rocha's sixth conviction for driving a vehicle without insurance, and that she felt she had to impose a fine higher than the usual £250 one. She told him that if he were an adult she would fine him £2,000, but bearing in mind his "very young age" she opted for £500, equivalent to two weeks in custody.

Regarding the breach of community service, the Magistrate said that she saw "little chance" of Rocha completing the community service given his "history of failure to respond to non-custodial sentences."

She added: "The court will go to considerable lengths not to send a young person to custody but bearing in mind you have already breached that order, I feel you are either unable or unwilling to comply with the orders."

She granted Rocha a "little bit of credit" for completing five hours of the order and opted for 32 weeks in custody.

Magistrate Shaw also noted that Rocha had made "no effort to pay" his £399 fine. After a brief discussion with his advocate, Rocha indicated he had no intention of paying either fine upon his release. Magistrate Shaw therefore chose to increase the custodial sentence, adding four weeks and three days to the 32 weeks imposed for driving without insurance. 

She also imposed a six month ban from driving, which will run alongside to the three-year ban imposed in October 2017.