WOMAN TOOK STOLEN BIKE BACK OFF THIEF

LADY RECOGNISED A LOCK ON BIKE MAN WAS CYCLING

A WOMAN whose bike had been stolen took it back from the thief when she saw him on the street with it in Shankill.

Sean O’Neill (25), 35 Loughlinstown Park, Dublin, appeared in Bray District Court last Thursday.

The injured party told the court that her bike had been taken and she had reported it.

On Monday, March 27, 2016, in the vicinity of the garda station, she saw O’Neill cycling her bike and stopped him. She said she recognised a lock on the basket and other details about modifications she had made. She had had the bicycle a num- ber of months. She took it back from him. ‘He half heartedly said “you can’t take my bike”, and then walked away,’ she said.

She went straight into the garda station after recovering it and told gardaí, giving them a description. She said that she went in the patrol car and saw the man who had taken her bike, outside Tesco in Shankill.

Solicitor Andrew Vallely said that O’Neill had not been properly identified, and that gardaí arrested the first person who generally matched the description.

‘He protests his innocence,’ said Mr Vallely. ‘He was the first person gardaí saw in a grey tracksuit.’

The woman whose bike had been taken had said there were specific markings on the man’s tracksuit. She also got into the car to go and find him. Gardaí were satisfied that this was the man who had taken the bike.

Judge David Kennedy said that it was very close in time, just a few minutes after the encounter. He said that the defendant is distinctive looking.

O’Neill said that he left his house in Loughlinstown that day and walked to Tesco in Shankill. He said the first he knew about the matter was when he was stopped there by gardai.

‘I’d never seen the bike or never seen that woman before,’ he said. ‘ The first time I saw her was today in court.

‘Why would I stop for a lady if I was on a stolen bike?’ he said.

‘My client has given what he says is an honest account,’ said Mr Vallely. The court heard that O’Neill had no previous convictions.

Judge David Kennedy said that O’Neill might be suitable for restorative justice. He adjourned the matter to December 11.