Man who stole envelope of cash from Athboy hotel spared jail

A MAN with seventy eight previous convictions who took an envelope containing €345 from the Darnley Lodge Hotel, Main St, Athboy two years ago received a suspended sentence at Trim Circuit Court.

Niall O'Connor (45) with an address in Walkinstown, Dublin had pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary at the hotel on 11th March 2019 and two charges of possessing stolen goods at Tullaghanogue Athboy on 12th March 2019.

The court heard that O'Connor entered the hotel at 11.15pm on the night in question and went into an office behind the reception desk where he rifled through a number of drawers and took the envelope containing the cash which unknown to him had been the proceeds of a fundraiser for the local parish.

A sergeant told prosecuting counsel Carl Hanahoe BL that O'Neill's actions were captured on CCTV and he was arrested five hours later when he came to garda attention in a distressed state walking on the Athboy Trim road at Tullaghanogue.

When he was arrested O'Connor was in possession of items taken from two cars including sunglasses, a driving licence, two hard drives, an iPhone and Asus tablet. He also had €315 in cash.

The court heard O'Connor identified himself on the hotel CCTV and told gardai he had gone to a chipper after leaving the hotel and had been walking in the rain before being arrested.

All of the property had been returned to the owners who had declined to make victim impact statements the sergeant added.

A defence barrister said his client who had a drug problem had been in dissaray on the night.

After hearing details of some of the defendant's previous convictions which included theft, robbery, burglary, drugs and endangerment offences Judge Martina Baxter remarked that drug addiction was at the core of O'Connor's offending and noted he had not been long out of prison at the time on the offences in Co Meath.

The judge adjourned the case saying that it was one where not only society but the defendant needed to be helped.

At a resumed sentence hearing Judge Baxter described the theft of the cash as opportunistic and especially egregious but noted that the defendant's efforts to deal with his addictions as impressive.

The judge said she accepted his remorse and contrition was genuine and imposed concurrent suspended sentences of two-and-a-half years and 12 months on the burglary and theft charges respectively.