Judge warns: come off cannabis or go to jail

‘IF he does not come off the cannabis, he’s going to jail.’

That was the message from Judge Gerard Haughton for defendant Nicholas Donnelly (42) from Talbot Green in Wexford.

Donnelly appeared at the District Court in Belvedere Road where he pleaded guilty to theft, trespass and attempted robbery.

In May of 2015, he took the purse of an elderly woman from her shopping trolley as she attempted to unload her groceries into her car at Pettitt’s supermarket.

The purse was later recovered, though not the €40 in cash which it had contained.

In January of 2016, he was seen by the occupant of a house in Wolfe Tone Villas in the back yard.

The uninvited visitor had propped a ladder up against the back wall before he was chased away by the householder

It was in April of 2016 that the accused man approached three teenagers in an alleyway near his home. He asked them to hand over their drugs and also demanded their phones.

He was given nothing, so he then threatened them and produced a hammer.

Solicitor Ed King accepted that all the crimes committed by his client were associated with drug abuse.

While Donnelly had now weaned himself off heroin and coke he remained a cannabis user.

All matters were adjourned until September to see then whether this remaining issue has been tackled.