Court hears of multiple thefts in Cavan and Monaghan towns
A 48-YEAR-OLD man, described as having a mild learning disability, was given suspended prison sentences when he appeared at Monaghan District Court on multiple theft and public order charges arising from incidents in both Cavan and Monaghan between August 2023 and February 2025.
Noel McCoy of Gola, Scotstown, Co Monaghan, had pleaded guilty to eight thefts and six public order breaches over the period.
Sergeant Lisa McEntee gave a brief outline of each incident, beginning at Tesco, Townparks, Cavan Town on August 25, 2023, when the defendant left without paying for a kids’ beanie cap and coat worth €50, as well as €15 of groceries.
On February 16, 2024, he stole footwear worth €8 from Vincent’s charity shop on Bridge Street, Cavan; while on April 17 of that year he was arrested after being found staggering across a busy roadway at Clones Road, Monaghan Town.
During an interaction with a garda while he was drunk at Monaghan’s Dawson Street on May 2, 2024, Mr McCoy told the officer to “f**k off you pr*ck”; while a few days later on May 8, he was arrested at the bus station on Farnham Street, Cavan Town, after being observed urinating against a wall.
Sgt McEntee recalled that on June 2, 2024, the defendant was arrested for his own safety for being intoxicated at Tullyhirm, Monaghan.
On July 18 of that year, the court heard he entered the ‘Squealing Pig’ premises in Monaghan as a trespasser and was recorded on CCTV stealing alcohol items worth €88; while at Centra in Emyvale on July 27, he left without paying for a €2.95 bottle of cider.
McCoy’s offending continued at Boots, Main Street, Cavan, on September 11, 2024, when he lifted packets of Panadol a nd Anadin along with cream for cracked heels, worth €19.95 in total, the court was told.
His most recent charge related to the theft of a jacket valued at €20 from Dunnes Stores, Church Street, Cavan, on February 22, 2024.
Sgt McEntee said McCoy had 66 previous convictions in total, all of which were similarly for either theft or public order offences.
Solicitor Roisin Courtney noted that a psychological report had pointed to her client having been diagnosed with a mild learning disability. Both his parents were deceased and he was a “bit of a lost soul” with an alcohol addiction issue. He tried to engage with the Probation Service in the past but to no avail, and it appeared he was his own worst enemy, with no family or friends to steer him in the right direction.
The court was being asked to avoid a custodial sentence if at all possible, she added, even though it was appreciated that the defendant was “running out of road”.
“He needs help of some description,” was how Ms Courtney summed it up.
Imposing a six-month prison term for the August 2023 theft at Tesco, Cavan, and two months’ jail (concurrent) for the abusive interaction with gardaí in Monaghan in May 2024, Judge Ciaran Liddy suspended both sentences for six months on a €100 bond to be of good behaviour. All the other matters were taken into consideration on that basis.