A man who was caught with ten stolen mobile phones has been jailed for six months.
Sabin Rostas appeared at Letterkenny District Court after being caught with the phones at a routine Garda patrol at Oldtown, Letterkenny on February 24th last.
The court was told that all ten phones had been stolen on the same night at the Warehouse Bar in Letterkenny.
Solicitor Patsy Gallagher said his client was not charged with theft and that other people who were not before the court were responsible for that.
He said everyone whose phone had been stolen had received them back despite the fact that they were without them for a period of time.
He said his client had gathered some cash and wanted to compensate the victims for the period of time without their phones.
Rostas, aged 28 from The Green, Convoy, also pleaded guilty to the theft of a purse form a handbag in the Voodoo NIghtclub in Letterkenny on December 24th, 2017.
The court was told that CCTV showed Rostas putting the purse into a ceiling space inside the men’s toilets but that €70 in cash taken from the purse was never recovered.
Judge Paul Kelly said Rostas, who has seven previous convictions, had got off lightly until now with community services and fines.
“There’s only one way I can deal with this,” added Judge Kelly.
He sentenced Rostas to three months in prison for the purse theft but backdated that sentence to March 17th when he went into custody and a further three months for possession of the stolen phones.