A teenager has admitted criminal damage to a shop window and till at a Westmeath pub.
Mullingar District Court heard that the only item recoverd from a burglary at the Caman Inn, Delvin on January 3 this year was a gallon bottle of whiskey, but some of it had been drunk.
Inspector Dermot Drea described how Christopher Moore (18 ), Castleview Court, Delvin was with two other people who broke a front window at the pub and returned a further three times after their initial entry.
They trespassed four times between 4am and 8am and took €850 worth of goods, including the drawer of a till which was damaged to the value of €150.
They also took an iPod, a gallon bottle of whiskey and other alcohol, and caused €100 damage to the pub window.
Inspector Drea said the three people involved were drunk when they started and got progressively more drunk as the night went on.
Moore has no previous convictions and solicitor Louis Kiernan described the incident as a drunken escapade.
He said Moore had been drinking before he went out in the first place and described the incident as “reasonably spontaneous”, saying they had been seen on CCTV as they passed back and forward from the pub and were seen looking in the window.
Moore said it was a spur of the moment offence and on the night he had drunk eight or nine cans and a couple of vodkas, which he admitted was “not great”.
He’s now doing a FÁS course and said he has no money for alcohol now and that his parents had told him to cop on.
Moore also said it wasn’t nice to have people look at him differently as they have done since the incident, but the judge reminded him that he has brought this on himself.
Judge Hughes said Moore’s behaviour was totally unacceptable and described Moore as a cool customer when he said he had been nervous when he first came to court but believed whatever decision the judge made was “reality and I have to deal with it”.
Mr Kiernan said his client meant that he knew he was at the court’s mercy.
Judge Hughes said he will give Moore a chance because he has no previous convictions and adjourned the case for six months, allowing gardaí to re-enter it if there are further incidents.
He told Moore to do something between now and January which proves he has done some good in his community and “you might walk out of here without a conviction”.
He said he was giving Moore the opportunity to do voluntary community service.
“They don’t like robbers and burglars in other countries,” he observed, adding that Moore may want to travel in the future.
“You don’t want to be stuck in Delvin, you’d like the flexibility to move around,” he said, adjourning the case to January 9 next.
