Ram-raid victim is €9,000 out of pocket, court told

The owner of a County Galway garage has told how the gates to his premises was rammed and a car was taken that was subsequently burned out, leaving him out of pocket to the tune of up to €9,000.

The garage proprietor made his comments as a 23 year old man, with 41 previous convictions, appeared before a sitting of Tuam District Court.

Ronan Murphy of M&R Motors near Shrule was speaking from the body of the court when he explained the extent of his losses as a result of the break-in.

Mr Murphy said that “an awful lot of damage” was caused during the incident which took place in May of last year.

He estimated that between €8,000 and €9,000 worth of damage was caused. “I had to pay for all of this myself,” he added.

Tuam Court was told that Joseph Collins (23) with an address at Hanover Quay in Dublin, along with another person, rammed the gate at the garage and took a car which was later found burned out at Horsevalley, Headford.

Investigating Garda, Kevin Browne established the registration of the vehicle involved and it was spotted by the motorway toll authorities as it made its way back to Dublin.

Collins was eventually arrested on other matters and was detained at Pearse Street Garda Station in Dublin where he made a number of admissions in relation to the incident in Shrule.

Prosecuting Sergeant Daithí Cronin told the court that Collins has 41 previous convictions including robbery, burglaries, assault, public order offences, criminal damage and road traffic matters.

Judge Deirdre Gearty said that it very upsetting for the victim of this crime as there was no chance that he would be compensated.

Judge Gearty expressed the hope that Collins would make changes to his life while in prison. “Hopefully you can give it back to society at some future point,” she said as she imposed a one year prison sentence to run alongside the two years he is currently serving.