A Dublin man who stole six bottles of gin and some Yankee Candles has been jailed for three years for burglary and threatening to kill shop assistants.
Patrick Cawley (30) of Plunkett Crescent, Finglas, pleaded guilty to stealing the gin valued at €354 from Marks and Spencer on Jervis Street on the morning of January 16th this year.
Garda John Bellew told Fiona Crawford BL, prosecuting, that the guards were called to the nearby Dealz shop on Moore Street later that morning.
Staff at Dealz said Cawley came in through a fire exit and made his way to a shelf of Yankee Candles, which he started putting into his bag.
When Cawley was stopped by some staff members when he began to get verbally aggressive, saying, “I’ll get ya, I’ll f*****g stab ya.”
Staff told gardaí that they backed away when Cawley pulled out a knife from his jacket pocket and said, “I’m going to burn your car out, I know which car is yours, I’m going to kill you, on my mother’s life I’m going to stab you.”
The staff member feared for his life and panicked, the court heard. Cawley was later arrested and the bottles of gin were found in his bag, which he admitted having stolen earlier.
Cawley has 97 previous convictions, including two for robbery, 34 for public order offences and others including burglary, forgery, possession of stolen property and firearms.
The court heard Cawley can be homeless at times and was known to gardaí. John Fitzgerald SC, defending, said the offence was what Cawley did regularly, in that he woke up early and walked the streets looking for material to sell to feed his drug habit.
Counsel said Cawley was from a very chaotic background with a substance abuse problem of nearly 20 years. Mr Fitzgerald SC said his client was not resistant to offence-focused work and believed a period of time in custody would support him.
“He is one of those tragic cases for whom custody is a better option than living on the streets,” said Mr Fitzgerald SC.
The court heard that Cawley has reduced his methadone intake from 85ml to 45ml since he went into custody in January and is awaiting drug counselling and anger management therapy.
Judge Martin Nolan agreed that Cawley has done well in custody and said he was satisfied that Cawley never had any intention to carry out the threats he made to shop assistants in Dealz.
