A man serving a 22-month sentence who appeared in court this week (October 9 ) to plead not guilty to 15 further counts of burglary changed his plea when told all he could get was just another two months in jail.
However, because of a technicality, and despite his eventually pleading guilty to a total of 19 offences, Anton Ring (20 ), of Thornbury Drive, Willow Park, Athlone was given no additional jail time.
Ring appeared in court from custody for sentencing for a number of burglary convictions adjourned since June 12.
Ring was in jail having been sentenced in Ballinasloe in September to 22 months for a rash of similar offences.
This week he pleaded not guilty to 15 further burglary charges committed at addresses across Athlone over the summer, despite having made admissions to gardaí over a number of them during previous interviews.
Knowing all that the District Court system could sentence an individual to was two years, and wanting to finalise the pile of charge sheets in front of him, Judge Seamus Hughes asked Ring if he was sure he wanted to plead not guilty, and Ring said he was.
The judge left it at that for the moment, and allowed Inspector Nicholas Farrell give the details of the four burglaries - in Cartrontroy Heights (2 ); Alverno Drive; and Kilmacoo apartments - to which Ring was pleading.
As soon as this formality was completed, the judge sentenced Ring to a further two months, which he ordered be served after the expiration of his present sentence.
Then, again trying to lessen the burden on the system by trying to avoid what he believed to be an unnecessary extra trial, he repeated his earlier question to Ring concerning the 15 additional counts, and suggested he have a word with his solicitor, Mr Tony McLynn.
Perhaps sensing the mood, Ring agreed to this, and in the brief consultation, Mr McLynn explained to his client that he had now received the maximum amount in the District Court system as far as sentencing was concerned, and that pleading guilty to these additional 15 charges would not add in any way to his jail time.
Ring took his solicitor’s advice, and when he returned to the court, told the judge he was changing his plea to guilty on all counts.
Judge Hughes accepted this, found Ring guilty on the 15 counts and, as expected, did not add to his sentence.
A little later court staff noted that, because of some remand time spent on the Ballinasloe charges, the two-month sentence Judge Hughes handed down to run consecutively would run over the two-year limit by a number of days, and so, the judge changed this also to run concurrently.
Ring is not expected to be released, however, until April 2015.
