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A SERIAL BURGLAR who previously targeted a circuit court judge’s house has been jailed for three years.
Vincent McNally (32) was due to be sentenced by Judge Martin Nolan last March. However his defence counsel told him it may be best for another judge to deal with it.
“Are you saying Mr McNally burgled my house?” the judge asked, adding that he had been burgled twice in the past. Counsel replied that this was the case.
“I’ll send him to a court that’s less prejudiced,” Judge Nolan joked before sending McNally to Judge Patrick McCartan’s court.
Today Judge McCartan imposed an eight year term for three more recent burglaries. The judge suspended the final five years of the sentence for five years on strict conditions. He described McNally as “a serious committed criminal”
McNally of The Court, St Anne’s Park, Shankill, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three burglaries in the Shankill area in February 2014. He also admitted possession of gloves with intent to commit burglary in Shankill on 28 April 2014.
He has 54 previous convictions, 24 for burglary, one for robbery, one for aggravated burglary, one for theft and one for handling stolen property.
“My first reaction was to send you to prison for as long as the law permits me to and at some stage you would get to grow up and realise there is a time to stop,” Judge McCartan said on a previous date before adjourning the matter for a probation report.
He noted from McNally’s record that he was jailed for almost every offence he committed.
The court heard that the homeowners returned to their properties to find their front doors had been forced open and their house had been ransacked.
In the first burglary €5,000 worth of property had been taken including jewellery, watches and a flat screen TV, while in the second raid a laptop, a TV, a DVD, games consoles, controllers, phones and jewellery were taken.
In the final burglary a laptop, an iPad and jewellery was stolen and a neighbour witnessed McNally in the house and leaving it.
This man later provided gardaí with a description of the burglar and went on to point him out in a booklet of photos leading to McNally’s arrest.
Garda Ivor Scully told Lorcan Staines BL, who was prosecuting, that a colleague witnessed McNally putting on a pair of gloves and trying to force open the door of a house in Shankill. McNally didn’t gain entry and he was later arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary.
Colman Fitzgerald SC, defending, said his client was a chronic heroin addict who spent most of his teenager years “in one institution or another”.
He said he has been trying “to break the cycle of criminality with and without great success”.
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I think in this case the judge should have let him serve every bit of the sentence. 5 years suspended is a joke!
There should be a mandatory doubling of sentences or at least no suspentions for every 2 convictions for the same or similar crimes.
Many Gardai believe suspending sentences is a ver effective deterrent to committing crime after serving the custodial portion of the sentence, as any crime committed during the suspended part of the sentence would result in the full sentence having to be served.
So a guy with 54 previous convictions gets 8 years, 5 suspended. So let’s say 18 months behind bars? And how many lives had he turned upside down? Grrrr
Only in Ireland..
If I was that judge, I’d be the most biased conflicted judge in the world.
Professional criminal. Life.
The judicial system in this country is falling apart. A friend of mine has waited 5 months for an access hearing in the family courts. His long time former partner has denied him access to the children since before Christmas. His life has been on hold but he thought today was going to be the day.
He was told to be in court for 10.30 a.m.. He still hadn’t been called at 2.30 p.m. At 5.00 p.m. he was told that his case would not be heard today and has been adjourned for…wait it…another SIX weeks.
70 cases had been scheduled for hearing today apparently. That right 70. The court sat for approximately 5 hours. That means that the court would have had to hear every case in less than 5 minutes.
What a joke. This man is devastated and is losing hope. He is planning to leave for mainland Europe in the next few weeks as he cant put his life on hold indefinitely. All very sad but unfortunately all very true.
.
I know your pain I have been through that and I only got it sorted recently….my best advice …..stand up on your own to The Bully ….everyone else is making Money off Your Back !
Nothing new about this story. Guys allowed to rack up hundreds of convictions in Ireland, yet still eligible for suspended sentences. Have to wonder how frustrating that is for Gardai trying to catch burglars. Apparently burglary is one of the hardest crimes to solve in Ireland, yet when they’re caught its all about their hard life and he should get one last chance to “turn his life around”. If he can get into a residential treatment programme to get off the drugs……. Cant they get those in jail?
My mam disturbed two burglars last week ….she walked downstairs with no clothes on
When is the last time the journal reported that a criminal had a suspended sentence activated because he reoffended?????
I bet NEVER
Sispended sentence is an unsent text not a penalty !!!!
I WISH THE JUDGES WOULD COP ON, enough of this SH(T
WTF is a guy with 50 odd convictions still doing out on the streets? The 3 strikes and you’re out ruke should be introduced here. He’s obviiusly a career criminal, most likely on social welfare and a complete sponger. Just execute him. Anyone not contributing to socuety should be eliminated.
Jailed for every offence he committed?
What a moron.
Change of career perhaps?
Judges never seem to take into account the psychological damage that is done to the occupants of a house after a burglary, especially if they have been in the house when the burglary occurred. Anxiety, sleepless nights, fear of rape etc are the norm after this has happened. There is also always the acute prospect of violence if a householders confronts these criminals. It is not a laughing matter and judges in Ireland for far too long have been treating these recidivists burglars far too lightly thus putting innocent people’s lives into torment. When will the government govern and have minimum sentencing for these recurring crimes and please stop this suspended sentences that are meaningless.
Ireland soft on crime again and we let terrorists walk out the door because judges don’t like American prisons…what a joke
A big word up to the burglars who phoned in those people who were dead.
They could have legged it ..
I’d say that will finish them breaking into houses. no need for prison.
They did it to save their own skins.
They knew the risk that something; be it DNA could now have connected to the scene of a possible double murder.
Own up to the burglary just to be safe.
I do believe there should be a minimal sentence for burglary. Let’s say five years. Instead it seems certain people just collect convictions for robbing someone’s house.
Can’t sell theft insurance if there are no thieves …no need for as many gardai either .
Hermes, a big word up, what da fcuk, to much tv mannnn
8 year sentence 5 years suspended that will learn him…
This same story appeared a month ago!
It’s a good story who cares
Ana , he was on sentenced today
*only*
You stay classy Dublin
54 previous convictions… Ireland’s legal system is a bad joke…
Crime pays!
Totes awks…
Look up Integrity Ireland on facebook and you will wonder which one is the biggest criminal McNally or McCartan or it takes one to know one
I was going to make a lot of reasoned well argued points about our criminal justice system, the considerations Judges have to make in sentencing and the real hardships that “career criminals” suffer but I know it’s spitting in the wind to speak up in the middle of a lynch mob.
So I’ll go another way: this is Ireland; we do not hang people; we do not boil them in oil, we do not lock them up and throw away the key.
We are Republic which means more than awkward rhymes in Rebel Songs. We believe in the inherent dignity of the person and accord everyone rights based solely on their status as persons.
And if you don’t like that you should consider the very real possibility that you just might not be suited to live here. I hear Saudia Arabia or 15th Century London is nice this time of year.
So whats the solution? Leave them in jail for an extra few years so we can spend another 70k per year keeping them in the one place that’s rampant with drugs?? Shame on the prison governors that can’t seem to keep drugs, mobile phones etc out of prisons!
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