Former garda fined for fuel theft from Dublin filling station

Tom Tuite

A former garda already serving a sentence for brutal assaults on two women has been given a €100 fine for failing to pay for fuel at a Dublin petrol station.

The drive-off theft by Stephen Cooper, 37, occurred on March 7th, 2020, at a Top Oil garage on the city's south side.

Judge Treasa Kelly heard at Dublin District Court that he obtained €10 of diesel and left but never returned to pay.

Cooper, of Kingswood Heights, Tallaght, Co Dublin, has 27 criminal convictions and is a serving prisoner.

He remained silent during his latest hearing; however, his barrister told the court Cooper was "apologetic" and had gone back to the service station twice to leave his details.

Judge Treasa Kelly noted he was serving a lengthy sentence for other crimes and will not be released until 2026.

She imposed a €100 fine, payable immediately, or he would get another two days in jail in default.

Cooper received a six-year sentence earlier this year for assaulting two women in 2021 following a drink and drugs binge.

One of the victims was bundled into a van and threatened that she would be taken to the mountains and buried.

Claiming she had stolen drugs from him, Cooper forced her to take part in a strip search and inserted his fingers into her body.

He was handed a three-year sentence in 2014 for offences when he was a serving garda. In one of them, he let another man be wrongfully prosecuted for possessing drugs found in a search at the 2009 Electric Picnic music festival.

Over recent years, he received other convictions, including motoring offences for having no insurance and failing to produce his licence, and drug possession.