Man who stole hundreds of euro from till in Cork city centre donut shop jailed

A young man who broke into Offbeat Donuts at French Church Street in Cork city and stole hundreds of euro in cash from the till confessed to the crime and got a five-month jail term.

“I was in the shop and took money from the till… I’m not going to deny it,” Edward Collins of Orrery Road, Gurranabraher, Cork, said at Cork District Court.

Judge Mary Dorgan imposed a five-month jail term on him backdated to the day of his arrest for this crime on November 7.

That was also the date of the burglary at the donut shop. Sergeant Aisling Murphy said the 31-year-old stole €500 from the till. Defence solicitor, Diane Hallahan, said that while Mr Collins was pleading guilty to the crime he disputed the amount and said it was not as much as €500.

Sgt Murphy said: “On November 7 gardaí responded to an alarm going off at Offbeat Donuts.” 

When CCTV at the premises was examined it emerged that the accused forced open a front window to get into the premises and then got out of the premises through the same window. The cash register had been opened and money taken from it.

He was arrested later that morning at 2.30am in Cork city and charged with carrying out the burglary.

Mr Collins was serving a sentence for similar crimes but got temporary release from prison.

“He discovered he was not welcome at home and he had nowhere else to go. Unfortunately, he was under the influence of intoxicants when he got involved in this offending behaviour.

“Due to his addictions he has spiralled out of control. He was in a relationship which broke down at the beginning of the summer and he did not take that well.

“He does want to apologise to the owners of this business,” Ms Hallahan said.

Noting that he had a total of 58 previous convictions, Judge Dorgan imposed the five-month prison sentence for this latest crime.