Stole €850 in products from off licence

A DUBLIN man, who stole €850 of spirits from an off-licence in Monaghan Town, escaped a custodial sentence when his lawyer emphasised at a recent sitting of Monaghan District Court that he was only finishing a 15-month jail term and was trying to get his life in order.

Dean Quinn (27) of Edenmore Crescent, Coolock, Dublin 5, admitted stealing the alcohol products from McCaughey’s Pub & Off-Licence, Park Street, Monaghan Town, on November 4, 2023.

Garda Inspector Declan McGarvey recounted how a high-value order for goods had been placed with the shop on the previous day, November 3. It had been explained to staff that this was to be for birthday parties, and a payment had been made over the phone by giving credit card details.

The transaction was subsequently revoked by the card issuer, but the goods had already been collected by Mr Quinn on November 4, leaving McCaughey’s at a loss of the €850.

The inspector also noted that a second transaction involving a different off-licence in the town had been attempted on the same date (Wineways of Glaslough Street), but that no goods had been released by that premises.

Judge Ciaran Liddy was told that Quinn had a total of 55 previous convictions, most recently at the CCJ in Dublin last May where he was given suspended sentences for an incident involving trespass, criminal damage, threatening a breach of the public order and possession of a knife.

Solicitor Roisin Courtney said she was imploring the court to give this young man maximum credit for his very early guilty plea. She revealed that he was due for imminent release after serving a 15-month sentence. He was happy to “face the music” but, again, the judge was being asked to be as lenient as possible given the circumstances.

At the time of the offence in Monaghan he was “on a bit of a bender”, Ms Courtney added, having just lost his partner to an accidental overdose. But he was off the drink at the moment, and had been going to school and to the gym while in prison and just wanted to put this all behind him.

For the theft at McCaughey’s, Judge Liddy imposed a six-month prison sentence but suspended it for a year, with a condition being that Quinn was to stay away from that premises, and also from Wineways of Glaslough Street.