COURT: Cashel man caught on camera found guilty of theft

A man who stole €1,470 of copper wire from an Irish Rail facility has been convicted by Thurles District Court.

Edward O’Reilly (36) of Old Road, Cashel, was identified from CCTV footage from the facility on March 26.

Gardaí told the court that on March 30, 2022, they received a report from a manager at Irish Rail that a 550-metre roll of copper cable was missing from their compound at Goolds Cross.

The following day, gardaí received CCTV footage of the incident from the facility.

The footage, which was played in court, showed two men, one in a white hat and an orange high visibility jacket, the other a navy and black tracksuit, taking the cable.

The gardaí told the court that in two sections of footage, one of the men pulled back his hood and looked at the camera.

The investigating garda had shown this footage to his colleagues, one of which was familiar with the defendant and able to identify him.

However, the investigating garda told the court that Mr O’Reilly denied any involvement with the theft. In his interview with the gardaí, he said he was at home with his partner and kids at the time of the incident. He told gardaí he doesn’t drive and doesn’t know where the facility is.

The manager of the facility told the court that the cable had a value of approximately €1,470.

He said the cable was part of renewal works on the line and had been delivered to the facility by one of his teams a couple of days before the incident.

When they returned on March 29, the cable was missing.

The manager also told the court that left behind was a hydraulic cable carrier that did not belong to Irish Rail. The cable carrier, identified from its fleet number, had been reported stolen from a local Eir premises.

A representative from Eir gave evidence that the cable carrier was valued at €1,500 and had gone missing a few days previous. JJ Fitzgerald, solicitor for the defendant argued that the garda who identified his client could not be certain of the identity of the man in the video.

He said the picture was not clear enough, and the tracksuit the man was wearing was generic with no identifying features.

“I put it to you that you cannot be 100%,” said Mr Fitzgerald.

However, the garda said that he could. He told the court at his time in Thurles, he had “numerous” interactions with the defendant. And when examining the footage he was able to zoom in to get a better look at the man’s face without compromising the quality.

Judge Elizabeth MacGrath said she was satisfied that the footage was clear enough for the identification of the defendant.

She found the defendant guilty of theft.

However, the defendant had also been charged with handling stolen goods in relation to the cable carrier.

Judge MacGrath said there was no evidence that the man knew the cable carrier was stolen, and so she dismissed that charge.

The defendant had 37 previous convictions, four of which the State said are relevant.

The defendant did not appear in court, so a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.