Cork teenager tried to burgle neighbour's house but fell asleep on bed, court heard
A 19-year-old who tried to burgle a neighbour's house to steal a television and PlayStation from a bedroom lay down on the bed during the crime and fell asleep.
When he was disturbed by people arriving at the house, he fled and was later found hiding in the attic of his own home.
These were the allegations made during an objection to bail being granted to Michael Harrington, of Ravensdale Road, Mahon, Cork.
Detective Sergeant Niall Hayes objected to bail saying: 'It is alleged that on May 31, 2025, Michael Harrington entered a house at Ravensdale Road without permission of the home owner.
'He proceeded to ransack a bedroom in the house and place a PlayStation and PlayStation games and a television in a bag by the bedroom door.
'He then fell asleep on the bed and was found there by neighbours who are related to the owner.
'He admitted attempting to steal, before falling asleep in the bed.
'At the time of his arrest, he was found hiding in the attic of his home. 'He is addicted to prescribed tablets and has a substantial drug debt from cocaine and cannabis use.
'It is the Garda belief that if given bail, Michael (Mikey) Harrington will continue to commit serious offences to pay for his drug addiction.'
Defence solicitor Eddie Burke called the teenager to give evidence. Judge Mary Dorgan reminded him he had received a lot of support from probation and related services.
'I am really sorry to see you here today,' Judge Dorgan said.
'I am too,"Michael Harrington replied. "Jail is not the place for me. My head is gone. My head is actually gone. I want to be well, I want to get clean. Life is tough, man, for me. It's hard. I want to be well.'
Sergeant Aisling Murphy asked him: 'Have you not been given chance after chance? You keep breaking the bail conditions.' The teenager agreed with that.
Eddie Burke, solicitor, said the young man really wanted to rehabilitate.
Judge Dorgan said for now the safest place for him to be was in prison and to get help on his release.
He was remanded in custody for a week.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Man jailed for peeing in Garda cell after his arrest
When he was put into the holding cell, Andrew O'Neill urinated on a cell door A Dublin man has been jailed for two months for urinating in a Garda cell in Co Donegal after he was arrested. Andrew O'Neill appeared at Letterkenny District Court after a drunken episode at Letterkenny bus station on April 3rd, 2024. The 34-year-old was drunk and becoming aggressive with a bus driver at 1.35pm on the day in question. Gardai were called and O'Neill, of Gardiner Street in Dublin, was arrested and taken to Letterkenny Garda Station and was searched. Stock image News in 90 Seconds - 6th June 2025 A quantity of drugs with a street value of €40 was found on the accused. When he was put into the holding cell, O'Neill urinated on a cell door. He was charged with causing criminal damage, being intoxicated in a public place and failing to comply with the directions of An Garda Siochana. O'Neill, who has 58 previous convictions including many under the Misuse of Drugs Act, is currently in custody on other matters. Solicitor for the accused, Mr Rory O'Brien said his client had come to Donegal from his native Dublin in a bid to kick his drug habit. On the day he was under the influence and Mr O'Brien said his client regrets all that happened. He added that when this happened he was on a "downward spiral" through alcohol and that he continues to need a significant amount of assistance for his addiction. Judge Eiteain Cunningham put it to Garda Sergeant Jim Collins that she presumed the station cell required a "deep clean" following the incident adding that this was simply "not acceptable behaviour." Judge Cunningham sentenced O'Neill to two months in prison for the criminal damage charge and took the other charges into consideration.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Co Limerick garda acquitted of charges he fixed motoring offences for drivers
A Limerick-based garda has been found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegations he fixed motoring offences for drivers. Garda Thomas Flavin was acquitted of a total of 22 counts of allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court following an eight day trial. The jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on 17 of the charges. Earlier, the jury was directed by the trial judge, Colin Daly, to return not guilty verdicts in respect of five counts against Garda Flavin. The garda, who had denied all of the charges, was supported in court throughout the trial by family friends and colleagues. READ MORE Garda Flavin was arrested following an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI). He was accused of knowingly entering false motor insurance details on the Garda Pulse computer records system, in an attempt to frustrate potential prosecutions against people for driving without insurance. His trial heard the drivers involved were stopped at routine Garda checkpoints around the country and asked by the garda present to produce their insurance and licence details at a nominated Garda station within 10 days of the traffic stop. All of the drivers involved nominated Rathkeale Garda station, and, later, when the investigating garda in each of the traffic stops carried out follow up checks of Pulse they were satisfied the details entered indicated that the driver in each case was insured. However, the court heard some of the drivers were actually not insured and had been prosecuted in court after pleading guilty to driving without insurance. On Thursday, Garda Flavin's barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, instructed by solicitor Dan O'Gorman, urged the jury to acquit his client of all of the charges and said there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Mr Nicholas told the jury Garda Flavin was an exemplary garda who had served with dedication in Croom and Rathkeale, Co Limerick, for many years. Mr Nicholas spoke of the 'unique challenges' gardaí face in Rathkeale as opposed to other jurisdictions. 'People who live down here know it has an enormous population, transient, in and out at various times of the year. 'One policeman said (the population) quadruples and with that comes its own set of problems and own sets of vehicles – UK car registrations, UK insurance, some not insured, some not being entirely truthful," he said. 'We know that a certain number of times that people who were pulled up and stopped and asked for their documentation, produced bogus insurance certificates.' The court heard evidence that people had provided certain documents at Rathkeale Garda station, where Garda Flavin was based at the time. However it was unclear who produced the documents nor was it clear what documents they produced. Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, had alleged that the evidence would show that Garda Flavin had 'sorted out' the uninsured drivers by inputting data into Pulse to try to frustrate prosecutions against them. Ms Murphy had told the jury that the prosecution case was 'a circumstantial case' with 'no direct evidence'. 'Instead, the prosecution relies on indirect evidence,' she said. She had argued that all of the relevant data entries into Pulse 'were entered under the ID of Thomas Flavin'. She alleged Garda Flavin knew the drivers were not insured and that he entered their details on to Pulse to ensure they appeared covered. 'Mr Flavin knew what he was doing, and he did so to ensure those people were insured (on Pulse) when they were not, in order to ensure there was no prosecution,' Ms Murphy said. However, after deliberating for three hours and 21 minutes, the jury unanimously dismissed all of the allegations.
The Journal
2 hours ago
- The Journal
Limerick garda found not guilty of charges he 'sorted out' motoring offences for drivers
LAST UPDATE | 21 mins ago A SERVING GARDA has been found not guilty by a jury of charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegations he 'sorted out' motoring offences for drivers. Garda Tom Flavin was acquitted of a total of 22 counts of allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court following an eight-day trial. Today, the jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on 17 of the charges. Earlier, the jury was directed by the trial judge, Mr Justice Colin Daly, to return not guilty verdicts in respect of five counts against Garda Flavin. The long-serving and respected Co Limerick Garda, who had consistently denied all charges, was supported in court throughout the trial by a large gathering of family friends and colleagues. On Thursday, Garda Flavin's barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, instructed by solicitor Dan O'Gorman, told the jury to acquit the garda of all charges, and said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the accused. Garda Flavin was arrested and charged following an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and ultimately accused of knowingly entering false motor insurance details on the Garda Pulse computer records system, in an attempt to frustrate potential prosecutions against persons for driving without insurance. His trial heard that the drivers involved were stopped at routine Garda checkpoints around the country and asked by the garda present to produce their insurance and licence details at a nominated Garda station within ten days of the traffic stop. All the drivers involved nominated Rathkeale garda station, and, later, when the investigating garda in each of the traffic stops carried out follow-up checks of Pulse, they were satisfied the details entered indicated that the driver in each case was insured. However, the court heard some of the drivers were actually not insured and had actually been prosecuted in court after pleading guilty to driving without insurance. Barrister Nicholas told the jury that Garda Flavin was an exemplary officer, who had served with dedication at stations in Croom and Rathkeale, Co Limerick, for many years. The defence barrister had urged the jury to acquit and not fall into the trap of speculation, remarking to the jury that there was radically insufficient evidence to support a conviction against Garda Flavin. '[Garda Flavin] served his community without blemish and without any disciplinary blots – you know that from the evidence,' Nicholas told the jury yesterday. 'When other gardaí came to give evidence, his superiors, they spoke of him very fondly and well. It wasn't far off gushing, and they spoke with knowledge,' he added in his closing speech. Advertisement Mr Nicholas spoke of the 'unique challenges' gardaí face in Rathkeale, as opposed to other jurisdictions. 'People who live down here know it has an enormous population, transient, in and out at various times of the year,' he said. 'One policeman said (the population) quadruples and with that comes its own set of problems and own sets of vehicles – UK car registrations, UK insurance, some not insured, some not being entirely truthful. 'We know that a certain number of times that people who were pulled up and stopped and asked for their documentation, produced bogus insurance certificates.' Nicholas said the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, is an extraordinarily, serious allegation to make against a serving garda and that the State had 'nothing close' to proving its case. The court heard evidence that persons had provided certain documents at Rathkeale garda station, where Garda Flavin was based at the time, however it was unclear who produced the documents nor was it clear what documents they produced. Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, had alleged that the evidence would show that Garda Flavin had 'sorted out' the uninsured drivers by inputting data into Pulse to try to frustrate prosecutions against them. However, Murphy had told the jury that the prosecution case was 'a circumstantial case' with 'no direct evidence'. 'Instead, the prosecution relies on indirect evidence,' she told the court. Murphy had explained to the jury that a statute of limitation of 'six months' generally applied in respect of prosecuting offences of driving without insurance. She had argued that the relevant data entries into Pulse 'were entered under the ID of Thomas Flavin'. She alleged that Garda Flavin knew the drivers were not covered by insurance and that he 'entered the details onto PULSE to ensure they (appeared) covered'. 'Mr Flavin knew what he was doing,' Murphy said. 'And he did so to ensure those persons were insured (on PULSE) when they were not, in order to ensure there was no prosecution.' After deliberating for three hours and 21 minutes, the jury disagreed with the prosecution's case. They unanimously dismissed all the allegations that had been made against Garda Flavin, following an expensive and top-level Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation probe. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
