Four years in jail for burglary of house at Burrin Manor, Carlow
Carlow Courthouse
A DUBLIN man with 85 previous convictions received a four-year prison sentence from Judge Eugene O’Kelly at a sitting of Carlow Circuit Court for burglary.
Martin Collins (36) of 5 Neilstown, Clondalkin forcibly entered a dwelling in Burrin Manor, Carlow on New Year’s Eve 2024 at 11.20pm while its owners were away. The court heard how the defendant used an electrician’s screwdriver to pry open the door of the house and took a flatscreen TV from the property. He also took car keys from the house, which he later said he believed was derelict.
He was placing the TV in the car and preparing to leave in the vehicle when the neighbours who were looking after the house intervened and prevented him from leaving.
Garda Shane Ryan told the court that the neighbours took the keys out of the ignition and the father and son-in law restrained Mr Collins until gardaí arrived. During this time, they said he made threats and was “kicking and punching, trying to free himself”. Garda Ryan accepted under cross-examination by Andrea Callan BL that it was a “very heightened situation”.
When gardaí arrested the defendant, they found the screwdriver, two gold coins, copper coins and a rewards gift card on his person. He was taken to Carlow Garda Station and assessed by a doctor at about 1am, who determined the defendant was not fit for questioning due to the level of intoxication.
At 7.30am later that morning, the doctor noted that Mr Collins “was in some pain”, gave him paracetamol and a referral to attend A&E because of a swollen eye that he had sustained while being restrained.
He was interviewed about the incident at 9.15am and remanded in custody on this matter exclusively from 1 January 2025. He had four live bench warrants against him when he was arrested. Mr Collins entered a guilty plea for the burglary charge in November 2025.
Garda Ryan outlined that Mr Collins has 85 previous convictions, including five for theft, five for unauthorised taking of vehicles, two for criminal damage, two robberies, an attempted robbery, three for stolen property and several for carrying various weapons. He has 36 convictions under the and a couple of convictions under the .
The court heard that Mr Collins had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, and offending arising from that, and that he had been effectively “institutionalised” by the prison system.
Mr Collins then gave evidence to the court and apologised for his offending. He said he was a father to a teenager and was in a relationship. He explained he began abusing drugs at nine or ten years’ old, first using cannabis, then ecstasy and later heroin to “numb the pain” of a difficult childhood. He had been through a period of three years of sobriety, which disintegrated when his mother passed away in 2023.
While in prison, Mr Collins said he was going to AA, taking part in drug counselling and the CAS programme. He talked to a psychologist for the first time and described it as “good for my brain”. When asked what he would like for his future, he replied: “I would like to stay clean and go home to my family.”
In outlining factors the court should consider in sentencing, Ms Callan said that her client had acknowledged his “appalling history” and that addiction was not an excuse but a context for the offending. She said a doctor’s report outlined that he had very little coping or adaptive skills and needs therapeutic assistance. She said he is open to engaging with Clondalkin addiction support and employment programmes.
“I do believe for the first time that he is engaging with these issues. We’re at the very start of a process where he is acknowledging his behaviour and actually taken very nascent steps,” she argued.
She referred to letters from the psychologist, Mr Collins’s partner, his sister and a friend and asked Judge O’Kelly to consider a suspended sentence on very strict terms to act as “a very long leash”.
Judge O’Kelly considered his offending to be moderately grievous and set a headline sentence at seven years. He reduced this to five years and three months and suspended the final year and three months for that period, on the condition that Mr Collins remains under the supervision of the probation services. He backdated that sentence to January 2025.
