Man (30) takes stolen bike ‘for a cycle’

A FATHER-of-four found with a stolen “Dublin city bike” told gardai he did not know who owned it and had taken it for a cycle.

Gavin McDonagh Carroll was also separately arrested when he tried to flee gardai at the scene of a suspected drugs transaction.

He was sentenced to a month in prison when he appeared in Blanchardstown District Court.

McDonagh Carroll, aged 30 with an address at Kilcronan Crescent, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property and obstructing a drugs search.

The court heard on September 6, 2020, gardai saw the accused walking in Clondalkin in possession of a stolen Dublin city bicycle.

When questioned about it, he admitted he had “taken it for a cycle” and did not know who the owner was. It turned out to be stolen.

Gardai saw McDonagh Carroll acting suspiciously at Ninth Lock Road, Clondalkin on September 14, 2020. They saw what they thought was a drugs transaction taking place and when McDonagh Carroll saw the gardai approaching he began to leave the scene on foot.

He was apprehended a short distance away.

The accused had 222 previous convictions including 20 for theft-related offences and 154 for road traffic charges.

The accused had grown up in the family home in Ballyfermot, his barrister Ciaran MacLoughlin said. McDonagh Carroll had got involved in illicit substances from a young age, was taking cocaine, tablets and cannabis at the age of 15 and had been in and out of prison all his adult life.

He was “doing quite well” at one point after leaving prison but after a bereavement, McDonagh Carroll  went back on heroin and crack cocaine. The accused was serving a sentence for a separate charge when he appeared in court. He had been in custody since January, was clean and sober and “doing well inside,” Mr MacLoughlin said.

His children came to see him on a regular basis. The accused accepted he had an “appalling record.”

Judge McHugh made the one-month sentence consecutive to the term McDonagh Carroll is already serving.