Jail sentence for man who tried to steal charity box from Kilkenny shop
A five month prison sentence has been handed down to a Kilkenny man who attempted to steal a charity box.
Wayne McGrory, Good Shepherd Hostel, Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to three charges of theft and attempted theft at Kilkenny District Court.
The first offence took place on April 3 last. Sergeant Morgan O’Connor told the court that Mr McGrory went into Spar Irishtown, Kilkenny, at 11.45am and took four cans of ‘pink gin.’
He was later stopped by gardaí and was highly intoxicated. He was arrested for his own safety.
There were concerns for Mr McGrory’s health while he was in custody and he was taken to hospital by ambulance.
At 1.40pm, the same day, a theft at Ruth’s store in The Sycamores was reported to gardaí. Mr McGrory was identified on CCTV.
He was again arrested and made admissions.
Grabbed box
On April 29 last, at 12.27pm, Mr McGrory went into Centra, John’s Green, and attempted to steal a charity box. The manager said a male entered the shop with his face covered and grabbed the box off the counter. The employee struggled with him and Mr McGrory left empty handed.
Solicitor Chris Hogan said his client had asked him to apologise to the court, gardaí and injured parties.
The background to the offences is that his client has an unfortunate, significant addiction to intoxicants.
Mr McGrory was doing well when he came out of prison, engaging with the services, but unfortunately he relapsed, the solicitor said.
Mr Hogan said the seriousness of offences had been “deescalating.”
He said Mr McGrory is aware he has to conquer his addiction and is going to use his time in jail to ‘get his head together.’
The court heard Mr McGrory had 239 previous convictions.
Judge Geraldine Carthy convicted Mr McGrory of attempting to steal the charity box and imposed a five-month prison term.
The other matters were marked convicted and taken into consideration.