Woke up in bed beside defibrillator he’d stolen from hotel in Carlow
Dinn Rí Hotel, Carlow
A DEFENDANT who stole a defibrillator when he was drunk and who woke up in bed beside it appeared before Carlow District Court last week on a theft charge.
Judge Geraldine Carthy heard that William McCarthy, 5 Springfield Park, Old Burrin Road, Carlow woke up in bed after stealing the defibrillator from outside Dinn Rí on Tullow Street, Carlow but didn’t know what it was when he later found it in his bed.
Solicitor Chris Hogan told the court that one of Mr McCarthy’s relatives returned it, undamaged, to the premises a few days later.
Mr McCarthy (37) pleaded guilty last week at Carlow District Court to the theft of the machine on 28 October this year, while he also pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary at Ewing’s public house, Haymarket, Carlow on 13 November last.
Sgt James Kearney said that Mr McCarthy entered the premises through the roof of the smoking area and forced open a cigarette machine, stealing cigarettes and cash worth €2,500. He continued that Mr McCarthy had 87 previous convictions and that the goods and money stolen from Ewing’s hadn’t been recovered. He added that the defendant’s last conviction was handed down at Carlow Circuit Court and that he is currently serving a sentence.
Solicitor Chris Hogan told Judge Carthy that his client was drunk when he took the defibrillator and had addiction issues for which he was now getting help from an addiction service.
Judge Carthy said that the offences were “quite serious” and sentenced him to nine months’ imprisonment on the burglary charge, while she also sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment, to run concurrently, for failing to appear before Carlow District Court on a previous occasion.
