Anti-vaxxer fined over parking and motor tax cases in Donegal

An anti-vaccine campaigner has been fined a total of €725 for the non-payment of parking fines and not having tax displayed on his car.

Antonio Mureddu failed to appear at a special sitting of Letterkenny District Court.

Instead, a young woman who handed in documents to the court and claimed to represent Mr Mureddu saying she had a right of audience with the court on behalf of the accused.

The woman began to address the court saying she was present 'by special appearance'.

However, Judge Vincent Deane refused to allow the woman to continue to address the court in the matters.

He said that unless the woman was a solicitor or a barrister or the person involved in the case then she had no right of audience in the court and he was proceeding with the matters before him.

Solicitor for Donegal County Council, Mr Kevin McElhinney, said there were a number of cases against Mureddu of Main Street, Headford, Co Galway.

Four of the charges related to parking at Market Street in Ballybofey on May 10, May 16, June 13 and July 1, 2022 without a valid parking permit.

Two other charges related to not displaying a valid tax certificate on his vehicle on June 13 and July 1, 2022.

Judge Deane fined Mureddu €50 for not having a valid parking permit on May 10, 2022 and a further €75 fine for a similar offence on May 1, 2022.

He was fined a further €300 for not displaying a valid tax certificate on June 13, 2022 and a further €300 for a similar offence on July 1, 2022

Two other parking offences were taken into consideration.

Mureddu made headlines in February last year when he was arrested in Donegal and questioned about his encouraging 67-year-old Covid-sceptic patient Joe McCarron to leave hospital the previous September, when he was gravely ill.

Mr McCarron returned to Letterkenny University Hospital two days later, but subsequently died.

Gardaí later sent a file to the DPP in relation to the Italian’s role in that incident, but the state prosecutor advised last May that no criminal charges be pursued.