A man has been jailed for a joyriding and car theft spree across Cavan and Monaghan last November.
25 year old Brian McDonagh of The Steeples in Navan, pleaded guilty to stealing a car in Clones and being a passenger in the same car, knowing it was stolen.
On the night of November 28th 2020 and into the following morning, a delivery driver's Honda car was stolen as it sat unattended outside a takeaway in Cavan.
It was recovered in Aghafin, Clones where it was abandoned by the occupants who entered the home of Patricia Cunningham through an open back door and took the keys of her VW Polo.
They left in the VW and made it as far as Castlebellingham before they hit mechanical trouble.
An attempt was made to set the car alight and they then took a Ford Focus from a nearby house, which was subsequently recovered outside a property in Cavan town.
A PPS card belonging to Brian McDonagh was found in the Honda and he was identified as the person in the passenger seat of Ms Cunningham's Polo through CCTV at a filling station.
In her victim impact statement, Patricia Cunningham, who is in her 70s, said she has spent money to secure her home as she is in fear of being burgled again and keeps a can of hairspray in her room for protection as her husband has since passed away.
The Court was told how McDonagh made no admissions throughout the interview, for something his defence counsel described as an opportunistic crime.
Sarah Brennan BL outlined that no one was disturbed when homes where entered, and there was nothing to suggest that her client was the driver of any of the cars.
The Court was told McDonagh was someone who could be "possibly easily led" and psychiatric reports identified a possible intellectual disability.
Judge Eoin Garavan said "in many years' time there may be a more sophisticated way to deal with people" like Brian McDonagh, and while he would normally be deemed unsuitable for prison, he had done well since being remanded in custody last November.
He was sentenced to two years in prison, backdated to his first arrest seven months ago, with the final 12 months suspended.
