A Letterkenny man who stole a cash box containing €4,000 from a parked van has been jailed.
Gavin Mitchell (40) with addresses at both Meadowbank, Letterkenny and College Park, Letterkenny, entered guilty pleas to stealing the cash and to burgling a local book store.
The book shop burglary took place between October 29 and October 30 last year while the cash box theft occurred on June 12 this year at Glencar Shopping Centre.
Garda English told the court that they received a report from a male who told them that he had gone into the shopping centre and left a passenger in the car.
Mitchell had come over to speak to the passenger but had then left. When the passenger left the van to go into the shop too, the defendant had sneaked back and lifted the cash box.
Garda English said the offence was captured on CCTV and when arrested, Mitchell had been co-operative.
In relation to the burglary of Universal Books on Letterkenny’s Cathedral Lane, Mitchell had broken in and taken €1,000 and an electronic tablet.
Solicitor Frank Dorrian said the burglary had taken place “out of desperation”.
“He had nowhere to live at the time and was essentially living rough. The opportunity arose and he took it,” the solicitor said.
The more serious charge surfaced while Mitchell was at Glencar Shopping Centre, Mr Dorian said.
“He was speaking to someone in the passenger seat, they got out to go to the shop and he took the cash box,” the solicitor said.
Mr Dorrian said his client was a 40-year-old man who had battled “very strong addiction issues”.
“He wants to put this behind him although he knows that the outcome of today’s proceedings are to some extent inevitable,” he said.
Judge Paul Kelly enquired as to whether any of the money had been recovered. He was told that it was all gone and that the defendant had no way of getting it back.
For the two crimes, Gavin Mitchell, who already had 50 previous convictions, was sent to prison for five months.