Camolin man guilty of theft and assault

GLEN HEFFERNAN (26) of 1 Limerick Road Lower, Camolin was convicted on the double at Wexford District Court after pleading not guilty first to theft and then to assault.

The accused was identified as the individual picked up on CCTV wearing shorts and a hoodie at Lambert’s of Camolin, across the road from where he was living on September 13.

The footage played to the court showed him climbing into the unlocked van of Pat Lambert which was parked outside the pub beside the filling station.

The owner of the green Renault Kangoo complained that the vehicle was ransacked, with a jacket and the keys to a Toyota Corolla amongst the items taken.

They were returned almost two weeks later after Garda Paul Kelly spoke to Heffernan about the matter.

Judge Brian O’Shea had no hesitation about imposing the conviction but he reserved his verdict while the court dealt with the assault charge.

The complainant was a teenaged girl who confronted the defendant at a house on December 3, 2018 over tablets he had in his possession.

She told the court that he came down the stairs with the tablets in his hand and she took the tablets off him and pretended to put them down a drain

The accused reacted by pushing her up against a wall and shouted into her face while he held her arms.

She recalled in the witness box how this made her feel terrified and she felt that he was off his head on drugs.

Heffernan told the garda who arrived at the house that he had not hurt anyone.

When he came to give his own testimony, he maintained that he did not lay his hands on the young woman.

However, the judge was not disposed to accept this version, remarking that the complainant had struck him as truthful.

He suspected that Heffernan’s recollections viewed the events of the night in question through a fog of intoxication.

The defendant said he did not take pride in what he had done.

He explained that he had difficulties in the past with tablets but gave an assurance that he was addressing the issue of his drug abuse.

The court was made aware that he had previous convictions for theft and for assault.

His latest offences earned him a four month jail sentence for the attack on the teenager, with four months consecutive for the ransacking of the Kangoo.