A JUDGE told a defendant who pledged to live in Waterford with his father, that he had to understand that one of the conditions on which she was suspending his prison sentence was that he “keep out of this neck of the woods.”
Sean Acton solr (defending ) said that his client had a tragic background and the only stable home he had was when he was in custody.
Before Judge Catherine Ryan at Galway District Court was Declan Bree, Forest Lodge, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, who had accumulated 99 previous convictions before this appearance.
He was charged with stealing €12 from an unlocked car in the city on April 29 last.
Mr Acton said Bree was pleading guilty and had €20 in compensation with him to offer. His client told him he was “out of his head at the time.”
The Judge said that the amount involved was not huge but her concern was that Bree had just got out of prison and went on to commit another crime.
“Apparently he doesn’t understand the meaning of changing his ways,” she added.
Mr Acton said one of the problems was that his client had no home and, as such, he couldn’t get social welfare. The first stable home he had was while in custody, he said. He asked that Bree not be returned to prison but be allowed to go and live in Waterford with his father.
“It goes against the grain but given the current prison situation it’s possible he’ll be out soon anyway, so I’m imposing a one-month sentence, suspended for one year,” Judge Ryan said.
She added that this was on condition that he understood that he was not to come up to this neck of the woods for that period.
