A MAN stole perfume, flowers and two boxes of condoms in a bid to patch things up with his fiancee as their romantic getaway went horribly wrong in Co Wexford last weekend.
Erinn O’Brien (24), Kilmahuddrick Court, Clondalkin, Dublin, but now living in Tullow, Co Carlow, appeared before Judge Donnchadh Ó Buachalla at Wexford District Court. He pleaded guilty to four charges of theft and one of criminal damage.
Garda Pat Fielding told how he arrested O’Brien last Saturday at Irish Street, Enniscorthy, after a series of thefts. The garda outlined how O’Brien, at about 3.50pm, stole a bottle of perfume worth €26 from Kelly’s Pharmacy, of Slaney Place, and then went next door and stole a bouquet of flowers worth €9.99 from O’Leary’s newsagents.
He was arrested and brought to the Garda station, where a search revealed he had stolen two boxes of condoms from Caulfield’s SuperValu on Millpark Road.
On learning that he was staying in Treacy’s Hotel in Enniscorthy with his girlfriend, gardaí searched their room and found a jumper and two T-shirts stolen from Berney Bros Saddlers at Templeshannon Quay.
O’Brien also faced a charge of causing €300 worth of criminal damage to chairs at the Millrace Hotel in Bunclody on Friday night.
Leonard Leader, for O’Brien, said his client accepts that his behaviour was unacceptable and that “he went on the rampage”.
Mr Leader said the newly engaged couple went to the Millrace for a break, but after a row on Friday night O’Brien’s girlfriend threw her engagement ring at him. He then got razor blades and tried to slit his wrists. The couple were asked to leave the hotel and on Saturday booked into Treacy’s Hotel in nearby Enniscorthy.
O’Brien took 10 Valium tablets, and Mr Leader said this caused him to “go on a rampage, stealing things he thought would help him patch things up” with her.
Mr Leader said O’Brien’s girlfriend was a heroin addict for eight or nine years. He said the couple lived in Tullow as they left Clondalkin when O’Brien’s mother – also an addict – stole €1,500 from him to buy heroin. His mother and fiancee were in court to support him on Monday.
Mr Leader said O’Brien’s late father had been abusive to him all his life. He said O’Brien had had a health setback as he has “a build up of fluid in his testicles, which he needs to get seen to”.
The court heard O’Brien had one child from a previous relationship, which he looks after with his girlfriend’s two children, one of whom is severely disabled. “I would implore you to consider a non-custodial sentence,” Mr Leader told Judge Ó Buachalla.
O’Brien, a qualified painter and decorator, told Judge Ó Buachalla that he doesn’t claim social welfare as he doesn’t believe in it.
When asked by the judge how he is supporting the three children and his girlfriend, he said he was receiving financial help from an uncle in Celbridge.
The judge ordered that a Probation Officer’s Report be prepared on O’Brien and remanded him on bail in his own bond of €400 to appear before Enniscorthy District Court on April 15th next. O’Brien is to sign on at Tullow Garda Station every Friday.