Man’s sentence increased after vandalism spree in Cork town 

BUSINESS owners throughout Charleville arrived to open their businesses to find that front windows had been smashed overnight leaving them with repair bills running into thousands of euro, a court heard recently.

The scenario was described by Garda Tony O’Connor, who investigated the vandalism spree after 3am on the morning of June 1.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, 35-year-old Damien O’Gorman of Lochinvar, Bróg Hill Rd, Charleville, has had his sentence increased where he was already serving a term for arson.

Gda O’Connor said that the front windows of eight separate business premises were smashed during one spree.

The properties that were damaged were O’Brien’s Bar, Mulcahy’s Bar, Lemon Asian Street Food, Geary’s Bar, Murray’s Store, Lee’s Centra, O’Connell’s Bar and Ladbrokes.

A wing mirror of a car was also smashed. The total damage amounted to €8,500.

Gda O’Connor said: “When I arrived on the scene, Damien O’Gorman was in the area. He put his hands up and admitted it.”

Judge Helen Boyle noted that there was no prospect of the accused being in a position to pay for the damage he caused.

He is currently serving two and a half years for an arson attack which occurred at Fairview, Love Lane, Charleville, on October 14, 2021.

The accused man had a total of 99 previous convictions, 30 of them for causing criminal damage.

Defence barrister Brian Leahy said that while the accused had a problem with alcohol and drugs and also had a background of learning difficulties, there was no question of any physical violence from the young man.

Mr Leahy said that the defendant was capable of holding down a job and being a normal, stable member of society.

“There was no element of revenge or anything like that in this case,” said Mr Leahy. “He was just very, very intoxicated.”

He asked the judge to bear in mind the totality of the sentence which would be served by the defendant, as the new sentence had to be consecutive due to the fact that he was on bail when he committed the offences.

Judge Helen Boyle said it was an act of pointless vandalism. The judge imposed a sentence of 15 months to commence at the expiry of the sentence he is serving of two and a half years. The last 10 months of the 15-month sentence was suspended.

The evidence in the arson trial was that Mr O’Gorman was aware that the tenant in the local authority house was not present at the time of the fire and that, having caused the criminal damage by fire, the accused then told the arriving firefighters that the tenant of the house was not in the house and furthermore he directed them to the scene.

There was no apparent motive for causing the damage on that occasion either.

Some €26,000 worth of damage was caused at the expense of the local authority that owned that house.

The evidence in that case was that the arson caused a risk to neighbouring properties.