A SELF confessed heroin addict who stole a tray of gold rings from a city centre jewellers, and a sum of cash from a newsagents, has been sent to prison for eight months.
21-year-old James Kelly, 6 Maple Court, Kennedy Park, was arrested by gardai after CCTV footage identified him in two thefts in September of this year.
Facing the charges after withdrawing his initial application for bail, Kelly was put on his election by the court to have the matters dealt with in the district court, or to face a judge and jury.
A guilty plea was entered and Judge O’Donnell heard the evidence in the case that included CCTV footage identifying the accused taking a tray of gold rings from a city centre jewellers on Saturday September 4 last.
It was alleged that he walked into the shop and asked to see a tray from the display, and when the sales assistant produced the rings, Kelly made off and sold it to feed his drug cravings. The property was not recovered.
On September 8 last, the accused entered a city newsagents and demanded money from the till that amounted to €980.
He was later identified by CCTV footage and arrested by gardai. The money was not recovered.
Judge O’Donnell heard that the accused had 49 previous convictions including a 10 month prison sentence handed down in January 2008 for theft matters.
However, John Devane, solicitor informed the court that his client had been released in August after a three- and-a- half- year sentence was given by the Circuit Court for robbery charges.
Kelly had “fallen back into his old ways,” according to the solicitor, and “not knowing any other way, went back to drugs”.
Mr Devane added that his client was a young man and had a troubled past that included him witnessing his father being stabbed to death, which had lead him to “use and abuse heroin.”
He added that Kelly, on the first day of entry, wished to plead to the matters before the court and not waste time in dealing with the thefts.
Noting the “appalling” record for thefts, Judge O’Donnell said that the injured parties were “out of pocket” as a result of the actions of the accused, and that if he “continued to behave in this fashion, he will end up in jail for some time”.
Judge O’Donnell gave credit for the early plea and convicted and sentenced Kelly to two eight-month prison sentences. The court ordered that the sentences would run concurrently and Kelly was returned to custody in Limerick Prison.
