A man who has paid more than $20,000 in fines in the last eight years has added $2,750 to Government's coffers after he was fined yet again for driving while disqualified and driving a vehicle without valid insurance and licence.

Crown counsel Wayne Caines told Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves that Caesar Graeme Godwin, 29, was stopped by Police on St. Monica's Road in Pembroke.

He said that Godwin had three previous convictions for driving while disqualified, 12 for having an unlicensed vehicle and ten for driving without insurance.

"It is obvious that he'd been riding while disqualified when these offences were committed," said Mr. Caines.

When he heard the amount of fines Godwin had paid to the courts in the past, Mr. Greaves told the man: "You could have bought a new car with that. You could have started your own insurance company."

Duty counsel Llewlyn Peniston spoke on Godwin's behalf and told Mr. Greaves the habitual offender was sorry for what he had done and was now in possession of a valid driver's license, to which the magistrate asked: "Does he have valid insurance, too?"

Mr. Peniston then implored Mr. Greaves not to lock up Godwin, who is already incarcerated for an unrelated matter, but Mr. Greaves was not swayed.

He stressed that people needed to be given strict penalties to deter them from committing crimes repeatedly.

"I would work those prisoners like donkeys," he said. "That's why we have such a high recidivism rate. People are too soft."

He fined Godwin $1,000 for driving while disqualified, $1,000 for driving an uninsured vehicle and $750 for the vehicle not being licensed.