Man handed suspended sentence for his role in Cork stolen dog case 

A beloved family dog was stolen from a car parked near Mercy University Hospital, and now one of the men accused of handling the stolen animal has confessed to his part in the crime.

Jerry Foley, aged 49, of no fixed address pleaded guilty to handing stolen property — namely Ruby, the eight-year-old Cavachon dog.

Inspector Dave Noonan said the dog was stolen on September 9, 2024, and not found until five days later.

Foley was seen handling the dog when the family pet was handed over to him and this was captured on CCTV.

Foley had 109 previous convictions.

When Judge Joanne Carroll was told that the stolen dog was valued at €1,000, she said that the financial value was in a sense neither here nor there and that the real value was its emotional value to the family.

Solicitor Eddie Burke said there had been a lot of fatalities in the tragic circumstances in Foley’s life and that, rather than trying to grieve properly, he had instead turned to alcohol and exacerbated his problems.

Mr Burke said the defendant was presently serving a five-month prison sentence for another matter and wanted to go into rehabilitation on his release.

Judge Carroll imposed a two-month suspended sentence on him for handling the stolen dog.

Two other people involved in either the theft or handling of the stolen dog were previously given jail sentences for their parts in the crime.

The theft of the pet resulted in a media campaign for information leading to the safe return of the eight-year-old dog and the fact that the pet had a particular place in the heart of the family who own Ruby.

The dog was being cared for by a relative at the time of the theft, and she had gone into Mercy University Hospital for a number of minutes with the window open a little to let air in.

When she returned, the window had been forced open and the dog taken.

The stolen dog was recovered by gardaí at an apartment in the area on September 14, five days after it had been reported stolen from the car parked outside the hospital.