Surveillance carried out by Gardaí earlier this year at a number of churches around the city paid off this week when a Lithuanian burglar was jailed for 17 months at Galway District Court after being caught red-handed behind one church equipped with tools needed to break into the building.

Inspector Pat McHugh said Gardaí were carrying out surveillance at a number of churches around the city following complaints of break-ins and they came across Darius Urniezius (22), of 400 Tirellan Heights, Headford Road, Galway, sitting in his BMW car at the rear of Ballinfoyle Church, Headford Road, Galway, at 11.55pm on St Patrick's night last.

Gardaí approached the car after they saw Urniezius sniffing petrol from a can. He told them where he lived and the gardaí obtained a search warrant. They searched the car and the house in Tirellan and found screwdrivers, chisels and hammers - all of which were bent and showed signs of much use - along with a bolt cutters and gloves in the boot of Urniezius's car. They searched the house in Tirellan and found more tools in a shed along with a church donation box, which had been removed from a church in the city a few days beforehand, along with two outboard engines, stolen from boats at the pier at Corrandulla the night before. A cover belonging to one of the engines was found in the boot of the car.

Inspector McHugh said the accused became very agitated when taken to Galway Garda Station and he lashed out at Garda Marcus Flynn there.

He said the accused had seven previous convictions in Co. Monaghan for thefts and burglaries. He had been disqualified from driving at the time of these offences as well.

Judge Mary Fahy commended Garda Flynn and the other gardaí involved in apprehending the accused. She said the accused had probably come to Ireland to work but had chosen a life of criminality instead.

She sentenced him to nine months in prison for having the tools which were used in the commission of his crimes and disqualified him from driving for a further 12 months.

She imposed a consecutive three-month term for obstructing Garda Flynn at the Garda Station along with a consecutive three-month sentence for the theft of the first outboard engine, valued at €600. A further 12-month disqualification was also imposed for that offence.

Judge Fahy imposed a further two-month consecutive prison sentence for the theft of the second outboard engine valued at €800 and she imposed a concurrent three-month sentence for handling a stolen church donation box. The sentences were backdated to 19 March last and leave to appeal the convictions was also granted.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment