Burglar’s tools of the trade revealed in court

A married man who had a phone concealed in his genital area which rang when Gardai went to search him, told a “cock-and-bull” story about visiting a girlfriend late at night, Judge Mary Fahy at Galway District Court.

Orentas Jaselskis (57), a Lithuanian national and father of four, with a former address in Clonsilla, and more recently at Moone Avenue, Athy, Co. Kildare, was arrested and searched in the early hours of the morning after two Gardai noticed him acting suspiciously near Oranmore.

Jaselskis appeared before Galway District Court this week where he denied a charge of having several implements associated with housebreaking in his car at Coolough, Oranmore on December 5 last, with the intention of using them in the course of a burglary.

The items included a black hat and gloves, double-sided tape, jimmy bar, torch, Stanley knife, metal file and set of screwdrivers.

He further denied having a card which opened out like a jigsaw, into a sharply-pointed knife, on the same occasion.

Gardai also found a radio signal-blocking device, plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter, which could be used for immobilising house alarms, mobile phones and other security devices which operate using radio signals.

Garda Conor Barrett told the hearing that he and Detective Padraig Healy were on patrol in an unmarked Garda car at 2.30a.m. when they noticed a car being driven by the accused who was acting suspiciously.

They stopped the car and noticed Jaselskis was extremely nervous.

Garda Barrett said he believed the accused might have had drugs on him, but on searching his wallet, he found the card-shaped knife instead.

He then arrested Jaselskis and handcuffed him for his and Garda Healy’s safety in case he had other knives or weapons concealed on his person.

He found a iPad on the passenger’s seat which had a sat nav app on the screen.  There were maps too of the local area with roads marked out in the Moyvilla area.

He then found the aerial plugged into the cigarette lighter which could be used for blocking house alarms.

He found a bag containing the jimmy bar and other implements, which he believed were to be used in the commission of burglaries, along with a knuckle-duster in the boot.

Both Gardai took Jaselskis to Oranmore Garda Station and while carrying out a more thorough search of the accused there they heard a phone ringing.

“We heard a ringing noise but we couldn’t make out where it was coming from.  Then we noticed he had a mobile phone concealed in his genital area,” Garda Barrett explained.

Garda Healy gave evidence stating they tried to ascertain where Jaselskis had come from and where he was going but he kept saying he was in Galway to meet a girlfriend.

In reply to Judge Fahy, Garda Healy explained that the double-sided tape found in the car could be used to tape over and deactivate security sensor lights, cover a camera lens or be used for fishing items out through a letterbox.

The accused, he said, refused to enter his password into the iPad to prove it was his and refused to tell them why he was in the area that late at night.  “He had a mobile phone down his boxer shorts, too, which we only discovered when it started ringing,” Garda Healy said.

Jaselskis gave evidence he was down in Galway with a friend who wanted to buy a car  but the vendor could not meet them until the next day and they booked into a B&B.

He said his wife rang him that night, saying she was ill and needed him to bring her to hospital, so he was on his way back to Dublin but got lost just before the Gardai found him.  He said he did not know where the B&B was situated.

The card which could be adapted into a knife was legal in his own country and he had bought it online from China, he added.

Judge Fahy said she had heard enough and that the accused had told a “cock and bull” story about a B&B, a friend and buying a car.

Garda Barrett said the accused had received a five-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Court in 2007, for the possession of a firearm and ammunition and for drug dealing and possession charges.

Defence solicitor, Brian Gilmartin said Jaselskis had been living in Ireland for 15 years, was married and had four children.

Judge Fahy sentenced him to twelve months in prison for having the implements in the car and imposed a consecutive six-month sentence on him for having the knife, which she suspended for two years.

Noting he had used his car in the commission of a crime, she also disqualified him from driving for three years on the first charge and for 12 months on the second charge, to run concurrently.

Hearing the accused wanted to appeal and was ready to take up bail, Judge Fahy imposed a further condition that he stay away from Galway city and county other than for court appearances or legal appointments.

Garda Barrett said Jaselskis’s son, who had been present for the lengthy hearing, was acceptable as a independent surety as he was a person of good character.