Windows broken in eight Kilkenny city centre businesses - Man in court

A man has been charged with breaking shop windows in eight commercial premises in a criminal damage spree in Kilkenny City.

John Comerford, Barry’s Cross, Coon, Co Kilkenny, pleaded guilty to all charges, including a charge of causing criminal damage at Kilkenny Garda Station and a number of public order offences.

Sergeant Morgan O’Connor said that on September 15, 2023, a woman was the last customer in a nail salon on John Street, in Kilkenny. Mr Comerford entered, sat next to the woman and “made comments of a lewd nature.”

Staff asked the man to leave. He told the woman he would rape her when she left the salon.

The woman described the man to a family member who recognised him as being in a bar where they worked. Using this information, gardaí were able to identify Mr Comerford on CCTV from the bat premises.
He was charged with using threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.

Mr Comerford was charged with a burglary offence at a Kilkenny hotel on February 16, 2024.
He was also charged in relation to 10 offences, committed on September 3, 2024. This included a charge of being intoxicated in public on Patrick Street.

Nine of the charges were for committing criminal damage, one count at Kilkenny Garda Station and eight counts of breaking windows in city centre businesses on Kieran Street: Serendipity, Ladbrokes, Marble City bar and tea rooms, Roller Coaster Records, Sally West and Regina Nails; and on Parliament Street: Good Vibes and La Rivista.

Solicitor Ed Hughes said his client had brought a sum of €4,200 to court to offer as compensation.

Judge Geraldine Carthy convicted Mr Comerford on all charges and imposed a prison sentence of nine months, to be suspended for a period of time of conditions including that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour.