A man who burgled a number of occupied homes in the middle of the night, with one elderly woman waking to find him in her bedroom, has been jailed for three years.
Brandon Carey (24) of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to a number of burglaries and attempted burglaries in various areas in Dublin 9 on January 31st, 2024.
He has 67 previous convictions.
Garda Ben Grimes told Jane Murphy BL, prosecuting, that an 86-year-old woman woke to find Carey going through her wardrobes. She was alone in the house at the time as her husband was in hospital.
Carey turned to the woman and asked her: “Are you dreaming?” He had gained access through an open window and had left blood on the windowsill. He stole a bag of coins, an ID card and a bank card.
Gda Grimes said another homeowner, who was also 86 years old, was woken up by a noise and found Carey coming out of the kitchen.
Carey demanded money before stealing the house keys and fleeing the scene. He had smashed a back kitchen window to gain access to the house and droplets of blood were later found on the ground.
Another homeowner later told gardaí that their security cameras picked up on a person trying to gain access to their home, but the doors were locked, and he wasn’t successful in breaking in.
Carey was later found by gardaí with visible fresh injuries to his hands and face. His DNA was found at the scene of a number of the burglaries after the blood left behind at the scene was examined.
Carey also had the ID card and bag of coins that he had stolen from the elderly woman’s home.
Gda Grimes said Carey was initially found to be too intoxicated to be interviewed by officers but when he was questioned later, he made full admissions. He identified himself on CCTV footage and denied that he had deliberately targeted elderly people.
Gda Grimes agreed with Luigi Rea BL, defending, that his client had trained as a chef and had initially done well until he fell into drug addiction. He said his client wished to apologise to the court for his behaviour.
Judge Orla Crowe said the aggravating factors were that these were burglaries and attempted burglaries on occupied premises in the middle of the night.
She noted that there were confrontations when Carey came into contact with the homeowners but acknowledged that he had not been physical with the victims.
Judge Crowe accepted that Carey had not deliberately targeted the homes of elderly people but stated that as Carey had burgled a more settled area of Dublin, there were higher chances that the homeowners would be elderly people.
She accepted that Carey had shown remorse but said he had violated the homeowners' sense of safety.
Judge Crowe said a headline sentence of six years was warranted before she imposed a sentence of four and half years.
The final 18 months of the sentence were suspended after the judge noted that Carey is working on his drug rehabilitation.
