A man who received free food from a charity later robbed it twice and caused more than €1,000 worth of damage to its premises.
Chad Mitchell appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with two burglaries at the ‘We Care Food Bank’ at Market Square in Letterkenny on July 21st and August 1st last.
Mitchell broke into the charity’s premises through a rear door on August 21st and stole €30 in cash.
After the robbery, the charity fitted expensive CCTV cameras and a security system.
However, a few days later on August 1st, Mitchell broke into the charity’s premises again.
He stole food but also removed the CCTV system’s hard-drive as well as pulling down cameras.
He was arrested on March 5th last after being identified by fingerprints he left at the scene fo the robberies.
His solicitor, Mr Gordon Curley, said his client had been on drugs at the time and was trying to pay off a drug debt.
However, he is since off drugs and is looking to move away from Letterkenny when he is freed from jail.
Judge Paul Kelly said the crime was “unforgivable.”
“It is unforgivable to take advantage of a premises which was assisting him and others,” he said.
Judge Kelly jailed Mitchell, of Windmill View, Letterkenny, for 3 months and also fined him a total of €400.