A JUDGE described a man who stole a child’s bicycle as “the lowest of the low” before sentencing him to a total of 29 weeks in jail.
Cian O’Donnell (33), of 23 John Street in Limerick City, pleaded guilty before Limerick District Court to seven charges, including four charges of bicycle theft – one of them a child’s bike and another two taken from outside Ard Scoil Rís secondary school.
The first bike was worth €500 and was not recovered, while another was spotted offered for sale by Mr O’Donnell on retail website DoneDeal.
After hearing about the theft outside the school just before Christmas, and the theft of the child’s bike, Judge Patricia Harney asked “what’s next? Candy from a baby?”
The accused also pleaded guilty to trespass, criminal damage to a car window, which he broke, to the tune of €300, and theft of a TV worth €1,500 from a friend’s house on the Ennis Road.
The court heard that the TV was recovered after the owner followed him and demanded it back.
Judge Harney was told Mr O’Donnell has 104 previous convictions, the vast majority of them for theft.
His solicitor, John Herbert, said that Mr O’Donnell has been “living with his grandmother in recent times and has been keeping himself very quiet.
Mr Herbert added that his client has a two-year-old child with his partner and, since the child was born, had made efforts to deal with his drugs issues.
Judge Harney said that it was “the lowest of the low” to steal a child’s bicycle “when he has a child himself”.
She sentenced him to a total of 29 weeks in jail, the longest of those sentences being eight weeks for stealing the child’s bike, with all of the sentneces to run consecutively.
The judge set bail in the event of an appeal at €500 and on condition that Mr O’Donnell stay away from Ard Scoil Rís.
