"You need to start sorting your life out"

Wednesday 16 November 2022

A 23-year-old man caught driving a stolen car without a licence little more than a year after being convicted for cannabis possession has been sent to prison.

Handing down a seven-month sentence yesterday, Magistrate Bridget Shaw told Kamaron Grant Cavey that he was a "danger on the road" and that custody was the only option.

The Magistrate's Court heard that the stolen car, a Ford Fiesta, had been left in the underground Castle Quay car park at 23:30 on 23 August and that the owner of the car returned the following afternoon to find it was missing.

Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, said that Cavey was then seen driving the car along Victoria Avenue, with passengers in the back.

He admitted driving without a licence or insurance but denied stealing the vehicle himself.

Pictured: Cavey denied stealing the car himself.

"He said he didn't know it was stolen when he got into it," she said.

The car was badly damaged at the front and inside but Cavey denied responsibility, claiming it had been damaged when he got in.

"It has not been confirmed who took the car, but the defendant was driving when the car was stopped," the advocate 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 Cavey 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 Probation Service tried and tried, and you have simply failed to engage. The court has no confidence that you would keep to probation or community service.

"You need to start sorting your life out."

She sentenced him to six months' jail 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 for applying for a driving licence for a year.