A 36-year-old man who committed a number of thefts around the city, including being caught with a stolen charity collection box stuffed down his trousers, has been sentenced to 10 months in jail.
Ioan Bogdan with an address at 41 An Tornog, Headford Road, appeared before Judge Mary Fahy at Galway District Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to two counts of theft, one count of handling stolen property, another for being in possession of wire cutters as well as failure to give a correct name and address and failure to appear in court.
Inspector Kevin Gately told the court that on December 10, 2013, gardai received a call from Dunnes Stores in Briarhill and were given the description of a car. Gardai arrived at the scene, approached the car, and found the defendant in the back seat. When searched a collection box for the ISPCC containing €150 was found concealed down Bogdan’s trousers. The collection box had been stolen from XL Newsagents and had been tied by a wire. At Galway Garda Station, Bogdan was found in possession of wire cutters.
On June 24, 2013, security from Lifestyle Sports reported that the defendant had attempted to take a tracksuit top worth €60. The defendant had also been arrested on June 18, 2013, in relation to the theft of Superfly jeans at The Outlet in Eyre Square. When stopped Bogdan refused to provide a name and address.
Defence solicitor, Brian Gilmartin, said his client is a married father of three with no previous convictions. He added that Bogdan who is originally from Romania has only been in the country for four months, was fully cooperative with gardai, and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
“It’s most serious for someone to go into a shop with wire cutters. It can be used for anything. People give money to charity and expect it to go to that charity. This wasn’t opportunistic, it was pre-conceived,” said Judge Fahy before imposing the sentence which was then backdated to December 11, 2013.
