12 months man caught on stolen motorbike while on bail
A convicted drug dealer who was caught driving a stolen motorbike while he was on bail awaiting sentence for selling heroin has been jailed for 12 months by Judge Katherine Delahunt.
Edward Keogh (aged 25) of Oliver Bond House, was sentenced to seven years in prison by Judge Desmond Hogan in June 2008 for possession of the drugs, valued at €23,500, for sale or supply near Dublin city centre on December 18, 2006.
The last two years of this sentence was suspended and Keogh was due for release in May 2012 but Judge Delahunt ordered that this jail term be served consecutive to that imposed by Judge Hogan.
Keogh pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to unlawful use of a stolen bike, driving the vehicle without a license, insurance and a crash helmet on April 11, 2007. He had 43 additional previous convictions, the majority of which were for road traffic offences.
Judge Delahunt said she was satisfied that Keogh had been using his time in prison well before she imposed the 12 month sentence.
Garda Gareth Daly told Ms Roisin Lacey BL, prosecuting, he was on patrol in an unmarked car when he saw Keogh sitting on a motorbike without a crash helmet. He later followed Keogh as he drove the bike around the area of Oliver Bond House before the accused parked the vehicle and fled the scene.
The bike was then inspected and it was noted that there was no tax disc on it and the chassis number had been filed away. It was later discovered that the bike had been stolen from outside the owner’s home the previous February.
Gda Daly agreed with Mr Philipp Rahn BL, defending, that Keogh had been going through a chaotic time in his life at the period.
Mr Rahn said that two members of Keogh’s family had died as a result of drug related illnesses and he had started to use drugs himself as a young teenager before progressing to harder drugs by the time he was 18 years old.
His girlfriend later had two miscarriages and a psychologist report before the court indicated that at that stage things started to go wrong for Keogh.
He told his doctor that he didn’t remember "anything" from that time and that he was getting new charges from the gardaí "every other day".
Mr Rahn said Keogh’s girlfriend has since had a baby and that has allowed his client to reach a "turning point in his life" and see "the errors of his ways".
