Man jailed after homeowner left in fear and Tullow office break-in
Pic: Michael O'Rourke
A 39-YEAR-old Portuguese national has been sentenced to five months in custody after pleading guilty to public order offences arising from two separate incidents in Co Carlow.
Nilton Sequeira (39), with a listed address of Brooklawns, Pollerton, Carlow appeared before Judge Geraldine Carthy charged with offences contrary to section 12 and section 13 of the .
The court heard from prosecuting Sgt Gráinne McPartlin that on 25 February at around 5pm on Tullow Road, Bennekerry, gardaí received a report of a man in the garden of a house in the area. Gardaí spoke to the homeowner, who said they were in fear of the man and he was subsequently arrested and charged.
The court also heard that on 13 March at around 2.30am at Castlemore, Tullow, gardaí received a report of an intruder at a property. The owner of the property observed CCTV footage in which the defendant was captured walking around the yard before entering an office on the premises.
When gardaí arrived at the scene, they observed Mr Sequeira sitting at a desk in the office. He then offered his hands over the desk to be cuffed.
The total damage done to a door and hinge during the break-in was €50.
Defence solicitor Tertius Van Eeden asked gardaí, in relation to the office burglary, whether they had found any items on his client’s person when he was searched back at the station, with Sgt McPartlin confirming that nothing had been stolen from the premises.
Mr Van Eeden told the court that his client is a father of one, originally from Portugal, but has been in Ireland for the past four or five months, adding that he has been in custody for the past two weeks due to a trespassing matter. He said Mr Sequeira, who is currently homeless and not in receipt of any social welfare payment, is generally very pleasant to deal with but difficult to give instruction to and that he had asked his client why he continues to commit these types of offences.
Mr Van Eeden asked the court to be as lenient as possible and to consider the fact that his client is pleading guilty and that he did not take anything from the office and offered his hands to gardaí when they discovered him.
In sentencing, Judge Carthy said that the defendant had in the past failed to turn up for a court date.
Judge Carthy said that she considered the section 13 public order charge for entering the garden of a house and putting the owner of the house in fear the more serious of the two matters before the court and sentenced Mr Sequeira to five months in prison, to be served consecutively to the sentence he is currently in custody for.
For the section 12 charge of breaking into the office in Tullow, Judge Carthy took the matter into consideration, acknowledging the mitigating circumstances of it happening after hours and Mr Sequeira voluntarily offering his hands to gardaí to be arrested.
Mr Van Eeden asked if the five-month prison sentence could run concurrently. However, Judge Carthy said she “would be making a joke of the court” if she did not convict him of the sentence as he was on bail at the time of the offence.
Mr Van Eeden applied for fixed recognisance, which was set at €500 own bond, with a €200 cash lodgement and the conditions that Mr Sequeira be of good behaviour and not reoffend.
