A homeless man who had been found with two stolen laptops containing sensitive information from a doctor’s surgery was jailed for 10 months at Galway District Court this week.
The court heard last Monday how Marek Kossot had first denied carrying out the burglary saying that he simply found the hold all bag with the laptops and all the tools needed for a burglary.
The 38-year-old of no fixed abode appeared before Judge Mary Fahy where he pleaded guilty to burglary and handling stolen property at the private consulting rooms at 7 Dublin Road, Renmore, on October 24, 2009.
According to Garda evidence, just after midnight an alarm went off and gardai responded to a call. There they spoke to a witness who had observed a male outside the premises. Gardai patrolled the area and saw the defendant carrying a black hold all bag. During a search a number of items were found to be inside the bag, this included two laptops, chargers, a pair of gloves, a screwdriver, pliers, a telecom key, and a torch. Kossot was arrested and brought to Galway Garda station where he was detained and later charged.
Defence solicitor Ronan Murphy said that his client, a Polish national, has been in the country for five years but is now homeless. Regarding the incident Mr Murphy said that Kossot had been walking around the city and was picking up things off the ground when he found the bag on the street and went up the road with it.
“That’s very convenient, he got everything he needs for burglary,” said Judge Fahy.
Mr Murphy then said that Kossot apologised to the court but that he would not be in a position to come up with compensation.
Judge Fahy was then told that the laptops had been taken from a doctor’s surgery. She expressed concern that these laptops would have contained a lot of private information. The court then heard that the defendant has two previous convictions for failing to produce a passport and for tresspass.
“He was in the possession of all the accoutrements needed for a burglary. It has to be dealt with seriously by the court,” said Judge Fahy who then imposed a total of 10 months in jail. Leave to appeal was granted.
