Limerick teenager jailed for breaking into car dealership while on bail

A YOUTH from Limerick city who broke into a car dealership while on bail stole alloy wheels and tyres, Nenagh District Court was told.

Luke Connors, aged 18, of Clondrinagh Halting Site, Limerick, pleaded guilty to theft charges relating to an incident at Pierce Motors, Tipperary Town, on January 4, 2023.

The court heard that Mr Connors and a juvenile were observed on CCTV entering the premises, taking the property and leaving. They ran from the scene but were arrested by gardaí a short time later.

The property was valued at €300.

The court heard that Mr Connors, who has 23 previous convictions, is currently serving a three-month sentence for a similar offence at Ballyneety in County Limerick but had been on bail on the date of the offence in Tipperary.

His solicitor, Colin Morrissey, told the court that Mr Connors wished to apologise and was “holding his hand up” at the earliest opportunity.

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Mr Morrissey said in mitigation that his client’s father had died when Mr Connors was 16 years old and that he suffered from depression.

He asked Judge Vincent Deane to be aware of Mr Connors’s age and to be “reasonable”. His client, he added, is married with two children.

Judge Deane sentenced Mr Connors to two months in prison, consecutive to the three month sentence he is currently serving.

Recognizance was fixed in Mr Connors’s own bond of €200.

In a separate case, Mr Connors admitted stealing a 12-foot boat from a location at Dromineer, Nenagh, on July 7, 2021.

The court heard that the gardaí had received a call about anti-social behaviour in the lakeside village and a report that a boat valued at an estimated €2,000 had been stolen.

Mr Connors was observed in the boat with another person but they ran into difficulties trying to bring the boat back to shore as it had become stuck in rushes.

Mr Connors had jumped into the lake and swam ashore in an effort to evade gardaí, the court heard.

The other person had already been dealt with by the courts by way of the Probation Act, Judge Deane was told.

Solicitor David Peters, for Mr Connors, said that his client was a minor at the time.

“He and his friend spotted the boat but never intended to take it permanently,” said Mr Peters. “They got stuck.”

The solicitor asked that Judge Deane not add to Mr Connors’s sentence.

Judge Deane took the charge into account with the Tipperary Town offence.