A 25-year-old man who broke into a city national school while on a concoction of alcohol and medication has been sentenced to six months in jail.
Joe Crawford of 47 Corrach Bui, Rahoon was also charged with public order offences and received a two-month suspended sentence for an incident at Galway Garda Station in which he continually banged on the window of the public office and threatened to stab someone.
Crawford was arrested on foot of a bench warrant in Cork and was brought in custody before Galway District Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to entering a building, Scoil Bhride in Shantalla, as a tresspasser to commit theft on February 7, 2010. He also pleaded guilty to being intoxicated in a public place and threatening and abusive behaviour at Galway Garda Station on September 25, 2010, and failing to appear in court on October 18, 2010.
Inspector Sean Glynn told the court that there had been damage caused to a window of the national school and that CCTV footage helped identify the defendant. He said that Crawford got inside the school and proceeded to go from room to room, that one window had been broken at point of entry, and that the defendant may have tried to break a small door to gain further access to another area of the building. Inspector Glynn added that nothing had been stolen and that Crawford was arrested the following day and made a full admission.
On September 25, 2010, Crawford had called to Galway Garda Station in an extremely intoxicated state. He approached the garda on duty in the public office and was enquiring about an incident that happened earlier that same night when he started banging on the window. Inspector Glynn said that Crawford became very abusive shouting: “This is fucking bullshit” and “I will stab the effer inside”.
Defence solicitor Tomas McHale said that his client has had a history of medical problems and has been on medication for a number of years. He said that during the incidents Crawford had been on a “concoction of alcohol and medication”. With regard to the burglary charge he said that Crawford had admitted he was in the wrong straight away. The court heard that on September 25 the defendant had again been in an intoxicated state and had presented himself to the garda station. Mr McHale added that Crawford had been the victim of a very violent assault a number of years back and has since suffered seizures in public as a result.
Inspector Glynn then informed the court that Crawford has 46 previous convictions mostly for road traffic offences but one for assault causing harm, and had been jailed twice in 2004 for robbery offences.
Judge Mary Fahy noted that unfortunately schools are often targeted and ransacked but that Crawford did not do any of this and therefore his plea would be taken into account. For the tresspassing charge she imposed six months in jail and two months, to run concurrently, for failing to appear in court. A two-month consecutive sentence suspended for 12 months was imposed for threatening and abusive behaviour and Crawford was also ordered to pay a €100 fine for being intoxicated in a public place. Leave to appeal was granted.
