CAUSED €6K DAMAGE AT ANNIE’S CAFE
Youth went on a spree of robberies
A 19 year old youth who went on a spree of burglaries last summer was jailed for two and a half years when he appeared at the Circuit Court in Dundalk last Thursday.
Wayne Kavanagh, 43 Rathmullen Park, admitted the offences which the court heard were driven by his need to get money to feed his drug addiction and to pay drug debts.
The court heard that he caused thousands of Euros worth of damage when he broke into a number of premises.
He was arrested after breaking into Annie’s Café, Meat Market Lane, July 3, 2016 where he caused €6,000 worth of damage, and he admitted the other offences.
He had broken the door of the café, stolen the cash till and drawer, and the cash float of around €200. While the till drawer was recovered, the owner had to pay for the damage to the premises as it wasn’t covered by insurance. Staff at the restaurant were now worried when locking up.
He also admitted breaking into Nano Reids on June 22, 2016, where he had gained access through a skylight in the roof. The owner went to the premises after the alarm was activated and found that €30 had been taken from the till. He found a sports bag had been left on the roof, with a hammer and screwdriver nearby, A total of €2,540 damage was caused.
Two days later, he had stolen a bag from a man who was sitting in West Street. The man followed two boys down the alleyway and saw them going through the bag in a car park. They ran off but when he got the bag it was empty and his €40 cash, wallet, cards and cigarettes were gone. He had recognised the accused and later saw him with the cigarettes.
On July 3, 2016, the man who had leased a furniture store on the quays went to the premises to collect a catalogue. He noticed receipts scattered on the ground and saw a hole in the roof. The office was ransacked and a laptop worth €100 was stolen. The damage to the roof amounted to €1,500.
The accused, who was 18 at the time, was on bail when he committed the offences. He had 32 previous convictions.
Counsel for the accused said he had difficulty remembering the incidents as he had been taking Xanax as he was addicted to drugs at the time.
His father had died from an overdose when his client was just eight and his mother also had addiction issues and he was left to his own devices for a long time. He first came to the notice of the authorities when he was 15 years of age and was hanging around with the wrong people and was easily led.
The reason he had broken into the premises was to feed his habit and pay off debts, He had been in custody since July 2016.