Man jailed for alcohol theft in Cork city hotel started to drink at 15

A 35-year-old man who started drinking at the age of 15 was jailed for five months for going behind the counter of a hotel bar to steal a bottle of Jägermeister and bottle of Bulmers.

Jonathan O’Leary pleaded guilty to that burglary and to being drunk and a danger on four occasions. Sergeant Aisling Murphy said that O’Leary, of no fixed address in Cork, had 197 previous convictions, of which 89 were for being drunk and a danger.

Eddie Burke, solicitor, said it was notable that the being drunk and a danger did not have associated charges of being threatening and abusive and that O’Leary was generally respectful to gardaí.

O’Leary went to the Maldron hotel on South Mall, Cork, at around 8am on October 21 and took the alcohol, Sgt Murphy said at Cork District Court. He pleaded guilty to the burglary charge in relation to the Maldron and that on four dates between October 18 and November 2, he was drunk and a danger in Cork city and carried out one offence of shoplifting.

Judge Mary Dorgan noted that the defendant did not co-operate with the probation service or complete a community service order previously imposed on him.

Quoting from the probation report on him, Judge Dorgan noted that, “His family are generally supportive of him, but his abuse of alcohol strains relationships. He was only 15 when he started drinking alcohol and it became problematic by the time he reached 19. He is deemed to be a very high risk of reoffending.”

Mr Burke said, “When sober, he is a very amicable young man, but, unfortunately, he cannot stop drinking.”

The judge imposed a five-month prison sentence, which will run concurrently with a six-month sentence he is serving for similar offences.