Tipperary man asked by judge if he has 'any ambition to earn money other than stealing'

A young man who was involved in an attempted theft at Nenagh Leisure Centre has been given a suspended jail sentence by Judge Joanne Carroll at Nenagh District Court.

Timmy Carthy, 20, with addresses at Bishopsland, Kildare, and 2 Harkness Place, Nenagh, pleaded to the offence on November 30, 2018, when he was just 15 years old.

He also pleaded to attempting to pass a counterfeit €20 note at Tesco, Borrisokane Road, Nenagh, on November 27, 2019.

He further pleaded to failing to appear in court on April 27, 2023.

The court heard that Mr Carthy, who is in custody at present, had seven previous convictions.

Sgt Regina McCarthy told the court that on November 30, 2018, the injured party brought his young daughter to the leisure centre and went for a swim.

The man noticed a male go into a cubicle and come back out. The injured party left the pool and went to check the cubicle and found that his clothes had been interfered with.

The defendant later admitted he had entered the changing room area but said he had been acting as a lookout.

In relation to attempting to use counterfeit money, Sgt McCarthy said that Mr Carthy approached a staff member at Tesco and tried to pay for items but the staff member gave the note to security and it was found to be fake.

She said that Mr Carthy was 16 years old at the time and had been identified on CCTV. He subsequently stated that he thought the note was “normal”.

Mr Carthy’s barrister, Reg Garrett, BL, told the court that in relation to being in custody, it was his client’s “first time in the big boys’ prison and he doesn’t like it”.

Mr Garrett said that Mr Carthy, who is now 20, was the father of two young children and he “wants to go home and put this behind him”.

“Have you any ambition to earn money other than stealing?” Judge Carroll asked Mr Carthy. “How would you like it if you brought your young child to the swimming pool to celebrate their communion and their money was stolen from them?”

Mr Carthy replied that he was interested in working and he wouldn’t like it if he was the victim of theft.

Judge Carroll jailed Mr Carthy for three months, suspended for 18 months, for the offence at the leisure centre, which she described as “mean-spirited”.

“A lot of people avail of facilities like that and use them to get rid of stress,” she said.

She ordered that he co-operate with the probation services and avail of training.

“The way forward is to get a job and stay out of trouble. I want you to come out of prison and put all this behind you,” she said.

The judge said that the suspended sentence was to act as an “insurance policy”.

Judge Carroll jailed Mr Carthy for three months for the offence at Tesco but backdated it to when Mr Carthy was taken into custody on August 30, 2023. It is to run concurrent with the sentence he is already serving.

Failure to appear in court was taken into consideration.