AN ACCUSED man with 159 previous convictions who admitted stealing clothes from a washing line had tried to get sober in residential care but “didn’t last very long”, a judge was told.
Nigel Sheehan (48), of Sheares Street in Kilmallock, was before the District Court sitting in Kilmallock on a number of charges including the theft of the clothes from a back garden washing line.
Judge Patricia Harney heard the man also admitted a number of public order offences, one of which saw him barred from a local fast-food outlet and another for a theft offence on January 11 in which he stole six cans of alcoholic drinks including cider. The judge heard he had €26 cash compensation in court for the drinks.
His solicitor, John Herbert, said Mr Sheehan “is not a young man. His has a serious alcohol problem. He went into residential treatment but didn’t last very long there and was discharged in October.”
Judge Harney was told that the man’s previous convictions included theft, robbery, burglary, and public order offences.
Agreeing that Mr Sheehan had an obvious alcohol problem, Judge Harney said the “biggest problem I face is the 159 previous convictions. It’s the continuous nature of it”.
The Judge sentenced Mr Sheehan to a total of 10 weeks in jail on three of the charges.
She also remanded him back to Limerick Circuit Court, where he may face a further month in jail as a result of his recent offending having activated a suspended sentence imposed on another matter.
