The Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has been sentenced to 250 hours of community service and a six-month driving ban after pleading guilty at Macclesfield magistrates' court to driving while disqualified and without insurance.
Tevez admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance after being stopped as he left a golf club in a Porsche Cayenne on the afternoon of 7 March this year following an anonymous tip-off to police.
Elizabeth Depares, the chairwoman of the bench, told the Manchester City striker: "Mr Tevez you must realise you are a role model for thousands, if not millions, of fans. Nobody is above the law and you should not have been driving. We have heard that you are sorry. And it is now up to you to ensure you will not be brought back to court again."
Tevez was also ordered to pay fines and costs to a total of £1,145.
According to the probation officer, Mr Boliver, who interviewed Tevez before sentencing, the striker stated he "would welcome the opportunity to put something back into the community… He was very clear when I was talking to him that this was a very salutary lesson, the seriousness of this type of offence has come home to him and the likelihood of this happening again is highly unlikely."
Gwyn Lewis, Tevez's solicitor, told the court: "The whole experience from being arrested to being in the police station is all completely alien to him and very frightening."
After hearing argument from Lewis, known at City as "Merlin the Magician" for his abilities in court, the three-judge panel retired to consider what action Tevez should face.
There were two strands to Lewis's defence of Tevez. First, that having been given a six-month ban in January which was backdated to a previous offence for speeding in Morecambe in November his client had already served a large portion of his disqualification when was caught driving on 7 March.
Lewis also argued that Tevez's previous offences were for failing to complete documentation when other people had been driving cars registered to him, rather than him actually being behind the wheel.
The court heard that Tevez, who wore a cream V-neck sweater and was asked to stand throughout in the glass-windowed dock, had been caught after an "anonymous caller" tipped-off police that he had arrived at Mottram Hall Golf Club apparently driving a white Range Rover.
Kate Marchuk, for the prosecution, said: "There was a call from an anonymous caller that the defendant had driven a white Range Rover while disqualified. The officer confirmed this on the police national computer. There was a white Range Rover on the car park but Mr Tevez did not get into the car.
"There was, however, a white Porsche Cayenne parked at the car park and a check on the police national computer showed it to be registered to the defendant. Just after five that afternoon Mr Tevez went to that vehicle, got into the driver's seat and drove off.
"The officer stopped him and Mr Tevez was arrested and cautioned for driving while disqualified and for having no insurance. His reply was: 'I only live down the road, two minutes'."
source..guardian
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