A woman visiting Galway for the weekend was “financially and emotionally affected” when she discovered her car damaged by a thief, costing her €550 to repair it.
Judge Fiona Lydon made her observation when dealing with a series of charges brought against Brendan McKeon with an address given as Fairgreen Hostel.
The Court heard that the defendant was caught on CCTV on June 29 last at a city carpark using a fire extinguisher to smash the car window belonging to the woman visiting for the weekend.
On June 24 last he arrived at the Health Centre in Mervue when the facility was closed. He kept ringing the buzzer and shouting that he wanted his medication. Gardaí had to deal with the matter.
In addition McKeon faces a series of assault, theft and public order charges. He has 44 previous convictions.
The Judge was told he was in custody since July and faces further charges to be heard in the Circuit Criminal Court.
The defence pleaded the defendant was 33 and a relapsed addict. He knew the consequences of his actions would be a spell in prison.
He was doing well in prison where his methadone treatment has been reduced from 30 to 23 units. He’s been an addict since he was 16 and had a child under two, but hadn’t seen much of the child in the recent past.
Imposing sentence Judge Lydon said what was most concerning to her was the criminal damage to the car as the owner not only didn’t have the use of it while it was being repaired, but then had to pay for the damage. She imposed a six-month sentence for this offence.
Two months, consecutive, were imposed for the incident at the Health Centre in Mervue and one month, consecutive, on one public order offence. Other charges were taken into account.
The sentences were backdated to July when the defendant was taken into custody.
