A FARMER, who had CCTV on an outlying piece of land, saw a man acting suspiciously and called the gardaí.
What Gda David Harmon found when he went to Breenybeg, Kealkil on June 27th, 2023 was a man in possession of a battery-powered angle grinder and hatchets.
At Bantry District Court, Sgt Trish O’Sullivan informed Judge Marie Keane that Dusan Kotlar of 1 The Forge, Breenybeg, Kealkil, was subsequently charged with having the items, with the intention of using them in the course of a burglary.
Although nothing appeared to be taken from the property, it was alleged that the accused had entered the property in the hope of sourcing free firewood.
It was not the accused’s first appearance in court.
His solicitor, Flor Murphy, entered a guilty plea on his behalf, and acknowledged that he has 28 previous convictions.
Judge Keane noted that the accused had previously been given two suspended sentences.
These suspended sentences might be re-activated following the judge’s decision to convict the accused and sentence him to four months in prison.
Mr Murphy acknowledged that his client’s record is ‘appalling’ but he said he had relocated to West Cork, about 18 months ago, in the hope of ‘putting his life back together’.
The solicitor said his client had gone to the property to cut firewood for himself, his wife, and their two children.
Judge Marie Keane was of the opinion that the accused had been given ‘every opportunity’ by the court system in West Cork. She said she now had ‘no option’ but to send him to jail for four months.
The accused was not taken into custody because Mr Murphy asked for recognisances to be fixed for an appeal.
