A MAN who said he couldn’t attend court because his bus pass had expired was told by a Limerick judge to “stop whining” and take control of his affairs.
Darragh O’Brien, with an address at Sycamore Drive, Kilrush, County Clare, pleaded guilty at Limerick District Court to the theft of three bottles of vodka, valued €66.50 from Centra, Cappamore, County Limerick, on February 17.
Mr O’Brien had previously failed to turn up for a court date to answer for the theft charges. His solicitor, Tom Kiely, told Judge Patricia Harney that Mr O’Brien couldn’t take the bus to court on the last occasion because his bus pass had expired. He had since had it renewed, Mr Kiely said.
The court heard the accused had 84 previous convictions, including seven for theft, 11 for misuse of drugs, nine for failure to appear in court, assault, criminal damage, public order offences, and road traffic offences.
Mr Kiely said that the accused’s partner “has a serious illness and he cares for her. He has made efforts to address his problem but he fell off the wagon. He has not been drinking since this incident and he made full admissions”.
It is five years since Mr O’Brien was in trouble with the law, Mr Kieley told the court.
Judge Harney said that while she accepted that Mr O’Brien’s bus pass had expired, “it is up to him to make sure it is in date. We all have to look after things like driving licences, insurance, and make sure they are in date – he has to take responsibility for his own affairs.”
The judge said that she had the “great sympathy” for the business over the loss of the goods. “It was three bottles of Absolute vodka in one day – small businesses cannot sustain those kind of losses. He has burned his bridges.”
When Mr O’Brien got to his feet in the dock to protest, asking if he could now pay for the stolen goods, Judge Harney said: “You should have paid for them on the day. Stop whining.”
She imposed a total of six weeks in prison on the accused, two weeks for each bottle.
At Mr Kiely’s request, she set bail for an appeal against sentence at €100, with Mr O’Brien’s own bond of €150.