A solicitor said his client “panicked” and drove away from a collision with another car, a court has heard.

Christopher Williams (40), of Crevenish Park, Kesh, was convicted of failing to stop, remain and report a damage-only accident and driving without due care and attention.

On October 27, 2021, police received a report from a third party of a road traffic collision on the Lisnagole Road, Maguiresbridge at around 12.40pm.

The reporting party told police the crash involved a Honda Civic that failed to stop and drove off towards Enniskillen.

There was considerable damage caused to the reporting person’s car and it was later written off by her insurance company.

The next day, October 28, police stopped Williams on an unrelated matter and noticed damage to the car’s headlights.

Williams was notebook interviewed and denied involvement in the collision.

CCTV footage obtained by police showed Williams driving in the area of the crash shortly after it occurred.

Referring to Williams’ criminal record, his solicitor, Sean McHugh, conceded it was not a good record.

He pointed out that from 2016 to 2021, there was a “lull” in offending but, from 2021 onwards “things had taken a turn for the worse”.

Mr. McHugh said when the offences took place, Williams was going through a turbulent time in his life, but he accepted his guilt and wanted to apologise to those involved.

He added Williams “panicked” and fled the scene; however, it eventually caught up with him.

District Judge Ted Magill told Williams: “All I can say is you pleaded guilty.”

Judge Magill said he did not like people who did not “put their hand up” when they damaged other people’s cars.

Williams, who is already serving a driving disqualification, was given another ban of three years and fined a total of £375.