A man who stole items from the same church three times, as well as from two other premises, within a period of four months has been imprisoned for 2½ years.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that David Carroll (48), of Dorset Lane, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft at St Francis Xavier Church on Gardiner Street, one count of theft at Erin College, North Great George’s Street, and one count of burglary from an apartment in Dublin city centre. All incidents took place on various dates between December 2023 and April 2024.
Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Orla Crowe said Carroll “has a considerable amount of previous convictions” and “has been offending since his early 20s”.
She said Carroll “received a diploma in addiction studies and did very well for a number of years but relapsed and was back before this court and others”.
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The judge said none of the items taken was recovered.
The mitigating factors were Carroll’s guilty pleas, his admissions and co-operation with gardaí. She also noted his personal circumstances and the letter of apology before the court.
The judge sentenced him to three years in prison, which she backdated to when he went into custody in April of this year. The final six months of the sentence were suspended.
Detective Garda Aaron Connell told Simon Donagh, prosecuting, all five burglaries happened between December 2023 and April 2024, and CCTV footage was available which could identify Carroll on each occasion.
Gardaí were contacted after a security alarm was activated at St Francis Xavier Church. A priest saw that a window had been broken and donations had been taken.
On March 8th, 2024, gardaí were alerted to a break-in at an apartment in Dublin city centre. When a woman returned to it she found it had been ransacked. Items worth €750 had been taken. CCTV footage showed a man, later identified as Carroll, leaving the area carrying a brown bag.
Two and a half weeks later, Carroll was identified again, using CCTV footage, after a theft had taken place at Erin College. He could be seen walking into the college and leaving with a bag. A laptop which belonged to a lecturer and items from students’ bags had also been taken.
Det Garda Connell said that on March 13th and April 16th, 2024, Carroll targeted St Francis Xavier Church again. On the first occasion, he broke in at night and took €200 in church donations, and on the second occasion he went behind the counter in the church shop while it was unattended and took donations. He was interrupted by a staff member who shouted at him, and he ran off.
The detective accepted that the motivation behind each offence was to feed his drug habit.
Luigi Rea, defending, said his client had a drug addiction in the past and had got clean before relapsing due to several deaths close to him. He told the court that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Narcotics Anonymous in-person meetings stopped, which affected his client.
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