Burglar with knife ‘out of his mind’ on drugs at Cork property, court hears

A PROPERTY in Buttevant was burgled by a 28-year-old man out of his mind on cocaine with a knife up his sleeve, a court has heard.

The owners followed him — one carrying a hammer and a hurley, another driving behind with a shotgun.

That scenario was described by Detective Garda Clodagh Walsh at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where the burglar was jailed for two years. Det Gda Walsh outlined the background to the case against Roman Becvar for Judge James McCourt.

Becvar came to Ireland from the Czech Republic five weeks earlier and was residing at Gracelands, Kilcolman West, Buttevant, Co Cork. On the day of the burglary on March 27 he went to another property at Kilcolman West. He got into an outhouse beside the main property, and when the owners returned that evening they noticed that the door was open.

The owner went into the storeroom and found a stranger walking against him, brushing past him, knocking him to the ground.

There was a Land Rover in the yard and powder was visible on the seat. Two lines of powder were also seen inside the storeroom, indicative of cocaine use by the intruder. The handle of a knife was visible in his hand and the blade was up his sleeve.

The adult son of the family was present and his father gave him a hurley and a hammer and told him to follow the intruder, who was running from the scene across a field, and to keep a safe distance from him.

“The owner got a shotgun and cartridges and followed on the road in the car,” said Det Gda Walsh.

The man in pursuit managed to trip the stranger but the defendant ran again and was later found by gardaí in a ditch, with powder on his face.

Defence senior counsel Tom Creed said that when CCTV of the incident was shown from the private property to Becvar, he could not believe he had done what was shown.

Mr Creed produced a psychiatric report on the accused which referred to a diagnosis of schizophrenia and the fact that he was being prescribed anti-psychotic medication.

Judge McCourt said it was alleged that the accused had come to adverse attention while in custody — it is alleged that he was involved in a serious assault on another prisoner who had his ear bitten off.

Jailing Becvar for two years for the Buttevant burglary, the judge said: “It was lucky no one was harmed. He had a serious weapon. On the medical evidence, he is lucky to be alive due to the amount of his drug-taking. He took off across the field — he was out of his mind.”

The judge imposed a sentence of three years with the last year suspended. He required the accused to leave Ireland on his release and not to return for a minimum of seven years.