Yet another Christmas behind bars

CAN’T ADJUST TO LIFE OUTSIDE

A MAN who has spent the last ten Christmasses in prison and who ‘is finding it difficult to adjust to life on the outside’ faces the coming festive season behind bars once more, after being jailed for nine months at Wexford District Court last week.

Before the court was John Morris (44), of 19 Lakelands, Bridgetown, who pleaded guilty to stealing a sledgehammer worth €19.99 from Aldi at Trinity Street in Wexford on October 18, and to causing €400 damage to a door at the Hotel Saltees in Kilmore Quay on November 5, the day before the court.

The court heard how Morris already had 102 previous convictions, for firearms, theft, assault and road traffic offences. The court also heard how these latest offences were committed while Morris was out on bail, with one of the conditions of that bail being that he stay away from the Hotel Saltees, and another being that he stay away from another person who was with him at the time the sledgehammer was stolen.

His solicitor said Morris was drunk at the time of the theft from Aldi, while alcohol was again a factor in the offence at Kilmore Quay, since the hotel was closed down and Morris believed there may have been drink stored inside, so he tried to break in to look for some.

The solicitor also told how Morris ‘ has been unable to adjust to life on the outside’ after spending so much time in jail, and how he realised he was probably now facing another jail sentence. He asked that whatever counselling and treatment might be available in jail would be afforded to Morris for his drink problem.

Judge Gerard Haughton remarked that taken in isolation, the offences on their own would not be particularly serious, but the defendant’s background ‘adds considerably to the gravity of the situation’. He was particularly concerned that the offence in Kilmore Quay was committed in direct contravention of a bail condition.

The judge imposed two sentences of nine months each, to run concurrently.