Man in Midlands with 118 prior convictions was going through ‘bad time’ when carrying out thefts

A man in the Midlands with over 100 previous convictions was going through a “bad time” when he committed two further thefts while under the conditions of a suspended sentence, a court has heard.

Ricki Donoghue (28) 156 Raithin, Ash Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath was brought before a sitting of Longford District Court last Tuesday to face two separate shoplifing offences in Longford town.

The accused, who the court was told had been sentenced to six months behind bars by presiding Judge Bernadette Owens in Mullingar in July for “separate matters”, pleaded guilty to both offences.

They occurred in March and June of this year at Longford town's Aldi and Lidl stores respectively.

Sgt Mark Mahon, for the prosecution, said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented for “summary disposal”, meaning the case could be heard at District Court level.

Garda Philip Weafer gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.

He said the latter offence on June 18 at Lidl, along Longford's Dublin Road, took place shortly before 10pm.

He said Mr Donoghue was spotted placing two bottles of gin into a carrier bag before attempting to leave the store by passing all points of payment.

The previous incident also resulted in the attempted theft of alcohol and again took place late in the evening, this time just after 8:30pm.

On that occasion, thecourt was informed the supermarket's store manager tried to stop Mr Donoghue at the scene, leading to a “small struggle” before Mr Donoghue managed to flee the scene on foot.

It was at that juncture, Judge Bernadette Owens was told Mr Donoghue had 118 previous convictions to his name, 35 of which were for theft.

The accused, wearing a black hoodie and black tracksuit bottoms, sat impassively in the custody suite of the court as details surrouding the case were read out.

It was further revealed Mr Donoghue, in committing both thefts, had violated a six month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months which was received in August last year.

In acknowledging both incidents as so-called “triggering offences”, defence solicitor Jack Donoghoe said the father of two was someone who had been attempting to battle chronic alcoholism.

“He has had significant difficulties with alcohol by going in and out of stores to feed his addiction,” he said.

Mr Donoghue said his client had, nonetheless, been showing signs of improving his personal well-being while behind bars and was fully focused on continuing down that path ahead of his expected release date in November.

“He is looking to get out at the end of November and obviously the court will have its own opinion on that,” added the local solicitor, who also spoke of how Mr Donoghue had been living without a roof over his head in the recent past and as such forced to live “quite a destitute lifestyle”.

“At the time (of the alleged offences), he was going through a bad period,” added Mr Donoghue.

Judge Owens consequently sentenced the 28-year-old to three months in prison on each charge, both of which are to run concurrently.