Burglar with 16 prior convictions caught after hiding under stairs
A Cork man with 16 previous burglary convictions was jailed for four months today after being caught hiding under the stairs of a house at Nicholas St.
Stephen O’Donovan, aged 36, of no fixed address pleaded guilty to that burglary charge relating to April 16 but his solicitor said it was at the lower end of the scale for such offences.
Mr Buttimer said that O’Donovan did have permission to stay at the house on previous occasions but not on this particular day and had been told to leave. Because he refused to leave, the gardaí were called to the scene and he was caught hiding under the stairs, the solicitor claimed.
O’Donovan pleaded guilty to that and to another charge of trespassing at a premises to commit a theft where he got away with a bottle of Gunpowder Irish gin costing €138.
That offence was committed at Dwyer’s pub on Washington St in Cork on February 10.
Mr Buttimer said it was committed at 6am when the accused was walking by and noticed that a door was open because a cleaner was working there at that hour.
Sergeant Gearóid Davis said the cleaner was outside the premises and walked back in and O’Donovan followed him and stole the bottle of gin which was never recovered.
Sgt. Davis said the accused had 16 previous burglary convictions and two previous convictions for trespassing on a building.
Mr Buttimer said the offences were limited but the defendant admitted them. “He does accepted he was asked to leave the house and he did not leave. Ergo, it was a trespass."
The solicitor said the accused struggled with alcohol problems and homelessness. He said O’Donovan went to Bruree in County Limerick for 10 weeks of rehabilitation but unfortunately relapsed around Christmas.
“He is a fairly inoffensive person in other respects,” Mr Buttimer said.
