A Dublin teenager will be sentenced later after he was the driver of a car involved in a spate of burglaries in Carlow 18 months ago.
The 18-year-old, who cannot be named as he was a juvenile at the time, pleaded guilty at Carlow Circuit Criminal Court to burglary and criminal damage at a housing estate in Killerig, Tullow, burglary at the Hair Lounge, Main Street, Rathvilly, stealing petrol to the value of €36.91 from Circle K at Rathcrogue, Carlow and burglary at Palatine GAA club, Bennekerry, on September 17, 2024. The incidents all occurred between 2.30am and 4.45am that morning.
He has a number of previous convictions including many offences relating to the stealing and driving of stolen cars.
Brian O’Shea BL, prosecuting, told the court that in one of the incidents the doors of the clubhouse of Palatine GAA club were rammed with the Mazda driven by the teenager before €100 worth of alcohol and a cash register was stolen.
In an earlier incident there was an attempted raid on the Hair Lounge in Rathvilly during which a door and window were damaged. Nothing was taken.
The Mazda was captured on a house camera pulling up outside a house in an estate in Killerig before a number of people got out of the car and broke into the house. They were startled and returned to the car without taking anything from the house.
The final incident involved the theft of petrol from Circle K in Rathcrogue. The teenager filled up the car and drove out of the forecourt without paying.
The suspects were captured on many CCTV cameras and the teenager was ultimately identified following the publication of a Carlow Bulletin which is an internal Garda document.
He was arrested and charged and identified as the driver of the car. He was on bail at the time for an endangerment offence the previous month.
It was accepted that the teenager was respectful and mannerly and caused the gardaí no difficulty.
Kathleen Leader SC, defending, said the teenager’s father died when he was young and his mother subjected him to violence throughout his childhood.
“He did not have the benefit of a peaceful nurturing background,” Ms Leader told the court outlining that her client “witnessed an amount of violence” as a child, which has impacted his ability to react to stressful situations.
She said he began taking drugs at a young age and became involved in anti-social peer group. Counsel said he was also regularly absent from school.
Judge Mary Morrissey adjourned the case to next July for sentence.