A man, alleged to have broken into a couple’s house in Mullingar in the small hours of last Sunday and stealing €90 whilst on bail from the High Court, was given a very restrictive release this week (July 7 ) after the judge said “his history...doesn’t suggest a pattern of re-offending”.
Trevor Cooke (34 ), with addresses in Kilmahuddrick Road, Clondalkin and The Deck, Market Point, Mullingar, was arrested on Sunday and charged with burglary at a named address in Abbeylands between the hours of 3am and 5am that morning, and appeared in court in Athlone on Wednesday as Gardai opposed further bail for him.
Garda Joe Kenny gave evidence that the defendant was arrested in Mullingar when two conditions of his previously granted High Court bail required he reside with his mother at the Clondalkin address and sign on daily at Clondalkin Garda Station.
He told the court how the couple were at home when the alleged burglary occurred, and gave further details of the crime which can’t yet be reported.
Garda Kenny told Judge David Anderson “the defendant is known to the alleged victims” and that he feared the possibility of “interference with State witnesses”.
“The defendant’s partner lives within a mile of the alleged incident,” said Garda Kenny who then told the judge that further charges “may yet be brought”.
No details of the High Court bail that Cooke had previously been granted were given to the court.
Garda Kenny told Judge Anderson that Cooke had not been signing on as regularly as ordered by the High Court in Clondalkin Garda Station but defending solicitor Padraig Quinn contested this, telling the court that his client had only missed this appointment once in the three months he had been required to do so.
Garda Kenny conceded this, but pointed out that this once “was last Saturday”.
After Mr Quinn appealed to Judge Anderson on behalf of his client in the face of Garda Kenny’s objections, the judge said: “It’s alright, Mr Quinn. His history...doesn’t suggest a pattern of re-offending”.
He ordered the defendant stay out of Mullingar, reside at his mother’s address in Kilmahuddrick, sign on daily in Clondalkin, observe a 10pm to 10am curfew and “have no contact whatsoever with [two named witnesses]”.
He set the unemployed Cooke’s own bail at €100, did not demand an independent surety, and remanded him on continuing bail to Mullingar District Court on September 9.
