Carlow man gets jail time for string of offences
Carlow Courthouse
A CARLOW man who admitted to a string of offences, including theft, criminal damage and threatening behaviour towards members of the public, has been sentenced to nine months in prison. Paddy Lynch (41) of 33 MacGamhna Road, Carlow pleaded guilty to all counts before Carlow District Court, with his solicitor Joe Farrell telling Judge Geraldine Carthy that his client had instructed him to enter the plea on each charge.
The court heard that on 14 June, gardaí received a report of theft from the manager of the Centra shop on Tullow Road, Carlow. He told gardaí that two males had entered the shop, gone to the alcohol section, picked up a number of bottles and left without paying for items to the value of €34.75, none of which were recovered. CCTV footage from the shop identified Mr Lynch.
The court also heard that on 26 May 2025, at around 3pm, Garda Doyle received a report from a member of the public who had left their bike – a hybrid Apollo Guru – in a stand to the rear of Carlow library. When the owner returned some hours later, the bike had been damaged and bent out of shape. CCTV obtained from the library showed a man “damaging the bike for a number of minutes” and Mr Lynch was identified by the footage. He was arrested and made no reply after caution.
In a further incident, on 7 April of this year, just before 2.30pm, Garda Walsh received an anonymous phone call reporting a man harassing members of the public at Fairgreen shopping centre. On arrival, gardaí found Mr Lynch in an intoxicated state and when they attempted to engage with him, he became verbally abusive, telling them to “f**k off”. He then ran into the shopping centre but was located, arrested and charged.
The court was told that Mr Lynch has 37 previous convictions, his most recent being for possession of drugs for personal use in December 2025. His last theft offence dated from 2024 and resulted in a conviction in February 2025, for which he received ten months’ imprisonment, suspended for one year.
In mitigation, Mr Farrell noted that the criminal damage matter relating to the bike dated back to May 2025 and said that in relation to the Centra theft, his client had been accompanied by another person.
“In the last couple of months, he hasn’t come to garda attention and was doing well. He was very clear this morning that he wanted to enter a guilty plea,” he said, adding, “he’s not looking great, judge”.
“No,” Judge Carthy replied in agreement.
“He has managed to look better before. He was on a methadone programme. He is very pleasant when met on most occasions; addiction makes him think in a different way. He seems to have tried to steal the bike and when he didn’t manage it caused damage,” Mr Farrell explained.
“He does feel as though he’s picked out for special attention by gardaí because he’s always around town,” the solicitor continued, adding that the defendant also had “tragedy in his life”.
“He is aware he’s going to get a sentence,” Mr Farrell concluded.
Judge Carthy took Mr Lynch’s plea into account and noted the “challenges he is undertaking”, adding that she had “seen him looking better”.
“I hope his time in custody will assist him,” she said, convicting and sentencing him to nine months , the offences having triggered the suspended sentence he was serving.
“I am not expecting him to appeal the matter,” said Mr Farrell, before turning to his client and telling him “the judge has tried to be as fair as she can”.
