Eighteen months in jail for Offaly parochial house burglary and shoplifting spree
A MAN has been jailed for 18 months for shoplifting, burglary and stealing from a parochial house.
Ricky Power (40), 104 Arden View, Tullamore was guilty of what Judge Andrew Cody called a “spree” of thefts from a Lidl store in one month alone, October 2022.
Prior to that, on June 11, 2022 he was involved with another male in the theft of €4,000 worth of goods, including computers, from the Parochial House, Bridget's Place, Tullamore.
Mr Power was found to be in possession of the majority of the property, Detective Garda Alan Burke told Tullamore District Court, but an Apple MacBook laptop worth €1,200 was not recovered.
The first of six offences of shoplifting from Lidl, Main Street, Tullamore was committed on October 6, 2022 when Mr Power stole general groceries worth €164.83.
Then, on October 14, 20, 26, 27 and 29, Mr Power stole bottles of whiskey and vodka, ranging from a single bottle of whiskey on one occasion to six bottles of Smirnoff vodka on another, the value in that case being €124.
Mr Power also pleaded guilty to the theft of €670 in cash, the property of An Post, at the post office at Bridge Street, Tullamore on September 28, 2022.
Garda David Harney presented the facts in relation to another offence, an attempted break-in at a house at Grand Canal Court, Tullamore on June 5 last.
Garda Harney said Mr Power fled when he was discovered and the gardai were then called.
Judge Cody heard the accused had more than 50 previous convictions, including robberies in 2010 and 2011 and 12 of the offences had been committed outside of the jurisdiction.
Patrick Martin, defending solicitor, said his client had engaged with the Community Alcohol and Drugs Service and was anxious to deal with his drugs issue once and for all.
Mr Martin said the man, who was in a relationship, apologised for what he had done. He had been homeless at the time.
Judge Cody said there had been an offence in September, 2022 and then a spree of offences in October that year.
He imposed six-month sentences, to be served concurrently, for those offences, including the thefts from the Lidl store.
He noted that the offence involving the theft of €4,000 worth of goods from the parochial house had been committed while Mr Power was on bail and he sentenced him to 12 months in prison for that, ordering that it be served consecutively to the six-month prison term.
Mr Martin asked that the total sentence be reduced to 12 months but Judge Cody said he had taken the other burglary into consideration and not imposed a separate sentence for it and would not be reducing the 18-month total.
However, he did fix recognisances for an appeal by Mr Power if he wished to lodge one.