A homeless drug addict who stole over €10,000 of designer clothes from a shop after sleeping inside the store for the night has been jailed for 16 months.
Mantas Sankalas (33) was arrested just days after the break-in when gardaí stopped him cycling the wrong way down a one-way street in the capital. He was carrying two designer bags, one of which contained items stolen from Deja Vu, a Dublin shop selling high-end designed clothes and luggage.
Sankalas of Gordon's Terrace, Richmond Hill, Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the burglary at Deja Vu in Ranelagh, Dublin 6 on an unknown date between September 8th, 2018, and September 13th, 2018.
Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Melanie Greally said she noted it was an opportunistic crime based on a spur-of-the-moment decision. She said she accepted that Sankalas had broken into the shop with the original intention of getting shelter for the night.
The judge said she also took into account his homelessness, his drug addiction and his efforts to deal with this addiction.
She set a sentence of 24 months imprisonment but suspended the final eight months on condition he engage with the Probation Service in relation to drug treatment programmes and that he keep the peace for eight months after his release.
Detective Garda Shane Cahill told Garett Baker BL, prosecuting, that in September 2018 the owner of Deja Vu was on holiday for a week when her shop broken into.
Det Gda Cahill said approximately €49,000 in stock was missing from the store when the break-in was discovered. This loss ultimately led the owner to close the business.
A few days after the burglary was discovered Sankalas was stopped by gardaí while cycling the wrong way down a one-way street and was searched. He was carrying two designer bags. Inside one were numerous items stolen from the shop.
The total value of the items found in his possession was €10,807.
After his arrest Sankalas told gardaí he was homeless at the time and had slept in the shop for one night before deciding to steal items the following morning. He said he was addicted to heroin at the time, but the court heard he has been clean for a period of time.
Det Gda Cahill told the court that two sleeping bags were found in the shop and a DNA profile other than that of Sankalas was also found, leading gardaí to believe that a second person was involved.
The detective agreed with defence counsel Simon Matthews BL that his client arrived from Lithuania and made good money working on fishing boats but fell into heroin addiction and lost his job.
His 32 previous convictions include convictions for burglary, robbery, theft, assault causing harm and criminal damage.
