Barefoot man stole aftershave from shopping centre
Carlow Court House. Photo: Michael O'Rourke
“NO, I opened it in the shop,” a defendant told Carlow District Court when asked whether a bottle of aftershave he had stolen was fit to be sold again.
John Alcock (20), Oakley Crescent, Graiguecullen, Carlow had been spotted walking around barefoot and “highly intoxicated” outside Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow town before gardaí discovered the €39 bottle of men’s aftershave in his possession.
Mr Alcock appeared before Judge John King, where his solicitor Joe Farrell said his client wished to enter guilty pleas to offences under section 4 of the for being intoxicated in public and section 4 of the .
The court heard that on 9 September, the defendant was seen walking around outside the shopping centre with no shoes on. He appeared highly intoxicated and his speech was slurred. He was arrested for a public order offence and brought to Carlow Garda Station, where a bottle of men’s aftershave was found in his possession.
Later that day, gardaí received a call from Sam McCauley’s pharmacy reporting the theft of a bottle of aftershave worth €39. CCTV from the pharmacy identified Mr Alcock as the person who removed the aftershave and left without paying and he was subsequently charged with theft.
The court heard that Mr Alcock has 39 previous convictions, 18 of which are for theft and 13 for public order offences. The most recent was at Carlow District Court in December 2025, when he was convicted of a section 6 public order offence for using threatening or abusive language or behaviour in public. He received a three-month custodial sentence on that occasion, with other public order offences taken into account.
In mitigation, Mr Farrell said that a judge at Kilkenny District Court had previously heard details of the defendant’s “tough start in life” where he had received a “favourable outcome” from a conviction in the form of the . He asked Judge King to give his client credit for his guilty plea.
“There was an episode where he was not well in terms of psychosis and he has struggled with tablets, prescribed meds. To take instructions from John at times can be difficult, but he was very clear about the plea today,” Mr Farrell said.
Mr Alcock interjected to tell the court that there was a relevant medical report, completed the previous day by psychiatrists in Cloverhill Prison.
Judge King noted the guilty plea and asked whether the recovered aftershave was in a resaleable condition.
“No, I opened it in the shop. I brought it out with paper around it,” the defendant replied.
“I won’t go into this in open court, but I am very familiar with his background,” Mr Farrell said, adding that it had been “very tough” and that the defendant’s mother was “not around at the moment, shall we say”.
His client had “very, very limited supports,” he added.
Judge King convicted Mr Alcock and sentenced him to four months in custody for both the public order and theft offences.
The state asked that gardaí be kept aware of the defendant’s address.
