A 38-YEAR-OLD man who has been incarcerated in prisons and other institutions during 30 of those years has had his sentence for burglary adjourned by Judge Frank O'Donnell.
David Stephens was given a six-year burglary sentence when he was aged seven and has 26 convictions since. These include a 5 1/2-year sentence imposed in 1991. His counsel, Mr Luan O Braonain, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that 1998 was the first year since 1968 Stephens had not spent time in custody.
Stephens, single, of Oliver Plunkett Avenue, Monkstown, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to two burglaries within hours of each other on January 1st and 2nd, 1998. He also admitted causing damage worth £2,275 to the Vocational College at Cumberland Street, Dun Laoghaire, on January 1st, 1998 and to assaulting Garda Denis Motherway on the same occasion, causing him harm.
Ms Una McGurk, prosecuting, told Judge O'Donnell there was no Garda objection to bail. She suggested Stephens be required to sign on daily with the Garda. She said this would enable Stephens to attend a clinic so the court could then have a more helpful probation report for the July 26th sentence hearing.
Mr O Braonain had earlier submitted to Judge O'Donnell that the court should "stay its hand" on sentence so that his client could benefit from support now available to him. He had to have this if his cycle of continuous incarceration was to be stopped.
Counsel said a psychological report on Stephens made "harrowing reading". He had been incarcerated every year since 1968, except last year, and it was obvious just putting him in custody was not doing any good. His client also suffered from hepatitis C.
Garda Dominic McHale told Ms McGurk he arrested the defendant in the Dun Laoghaire VEC college after answering an alarm call.
Stephens broke glass panels to get in and was in an office smashing another window with a chair to try to escape when apprehended. He kicked out at Garda Motherway when arrested and damaged a bone in his hand.
Stephens was charged in Dun Laoghaire Garda station and released, but shortly afterwards he was caught again when the alarm went off nearby in Dunphy's Pub on Lower George's Street. Garda McHale agreed with Mr O Braonain that Stephens said he had carried out four other burglaries but inquiries proved these had not in fact happened.
Garda McHale agreed that while Stephens had 26 convictions, the number of offences involved ranged from one up to more than 35 in each case.