Two men who went on a robbery spree before crashing their car into a roundabout wrote a letter to a Judge pleading with him not to jail them.
Ryan Harkin and John Paul Gormley fled from a petrol station without paying for diesel, stole food from another shop and then wrote off their car after crashing.
The pair, who had 135 previous convictions between them, appeared before Letterkenny District Court.
The court heard the pair fled from the Dry Arch Filling Station in Letterkenny on November 18th last without paying for €70 of diesel.
Feeling hungry, the pair then drove to Mountain Top also in Letterkenny when they took two hampers of food from Kelly’s Centra without paying.
They again fled and lost control of their car before crashing it into a roundabout and into a field.
The court heard the pair had been in each other’s company in Derry when they decided to go for a drive.
They had little money and found themselves out of diesel and then became hungry so they stole the two hampers before losing control of the car and crashing it.
The pair, who spent a number of days in Castlerea Prison awaiting their case, wrote a letter in a plea to Judge Paul Kelly.
Gormley, aged 29 of Clooney Terrace, Derry, has previous convictions for a range of offences including theft, assault, possession of drugs and robbery.
Harkin, aged 25, of Glenabbey Close, Derry, has previous convictions for damaging property, possession of drugs, burglary and driving while disqualified.
Despite their pleas not to put them behind bars, Judge Kelly imposed a custodial sentence.
He sentenced Gormley to a total of four months in prison for stealing fuel and hampers and allowing himself to be carried in a vehicle knowing it to be stolen.
He also jailed Harkin to a total of six months for the thefts and banned him for driving for six years for driving while previously disqualified.