A convicted arsonist who pleaded guilty to theft, assault, trespass and possession of a knife, all committed whilst on bail, was given the exact same 20-month sentence his sister received in the same court only a week previously.
In the District Court this week (February 2 ), Patrick O’Neill (21 ), from Meadowbrook, Willow Park, Athlone, faced Judge David Anderson who only seven days before sent his 19-year-old sister Mary to jail after convicting her on 10 counts of theft committed whilst under a suspended sentence.
Inspector Nicholas Farrell read Patrick’s charges to the court in order, from the most recently committed.
On November 13 he attempted to walk out of Lidl with a flat screen TV but ran when confronted by a customer; the day previously, he stole five bottles of vodka from Dunnes Stores worth €140; on November 9, he took six bottles of whiskey from Lidl. On September 6, he was one of three who stole a tip jar from Torc café worth €16. Neither the tip jar nor any of the spirits were recovered, the court heard.
On November 6 he was stopped by gardaí who found a 4-inch knife - “for my own protection” - in his trousers after a search, whilst on July 22 he was one of four people caught leaving a vacant property in Willow Park by the owner.
Only two days before this, he assaulted a 48-year-old unnamed man with a hurling stick, inflicting an injury on his finger that required stitches.
Finally, on an unspecified day in early July, he took a garden gate worth €300 from an address in Thornbury Drive.
“He said he needed it to block a gap in a field for horses,” said the inspector, who then went on to read out O’Neill’s mainly feud-related previous convictions for possession of explosives, arson, and criminal damage, for which he recieved a total of four and a half years in jail, but served less than two.
His solicitor, Mr Mark Cooney, described O’Neill’s background as “very unfortunate” and that “most of his siblings had been in care”.
“These unfortunate circumstances have led him into this crime spiral...and he accepts the inevitability of a custodial sentence,” said Mr Cooney.
In mitigation, Mr Cooney pointed out that O’Neill had not come to Garda attention since November 13, and, knowing he was facing jail “he hasn’t decided to go on one big spree before he went away, so he isn’t the serial criminal he seems”.
Judge Anderson was unimpressed, and sentenced O’Neill to eight months each on the assault and gate theft, and a further four months for the TV, all consecutive.
The remaining, 22 cumulative months of sentencing for the vodka, whiskey, tip jar, knife and trespass offences were ordered to be served concurrently.
The judge set independent surety at €3,000.
