Judge issues arrest warrant for man who demanded €1m

A judge has issued an arrest warrant for a man who demanded €1 million to come back into court.

Thomas Dignam (69) appeared at Letterkenny District Court in Co Donegal on Monday facing a number of motoring charges.

Mr Dignam, from Woodlands, Dooish, Ballybofey, is charged with having no insurance and no driving licence at the Lidl car park at Paddy Harte Road in Letterkenny on June 12th, 2018.

He is also charged with holding a mobile phone while driving on the same date.

When asked what he was doing about the charges by Judge Paul Kelly, Mr Dignam replied that the charges were “legal fiction.”

When asked if he was Thomas Dignam, he replied: “I’m the man commonly known as Thomas Dignam.”

Judge Paul Kelly adjourned the case until 2pm on Monday afternoon.

However, Dignam replied: “I want one million euro to come back into this court.”

He then left the court.

The case was then called in the afternoon but Mr Dignam failed to appear.

Prosecuting Garda Gareth Monaghan said he stopped Mr Dignam on the day in question and he was reluctant to give his full name and was “making light of the situation”.

The Garda said Mr Dignam was argumentative and he was issued with a summons.

Judge Kelly said Mr Dignam had handed in a number of documents in which he claimed that Letterkenny District Court was “a ship in dry dock”.

He also appeared to have handed in an insurance certificate.

However, upon checking the dates covered by the document, Sgt Gerard Dalton said the document did not cover the date on which the accused was stopped.

A warrant was issued for Mr Dignam’s arrest.