Man jailed for taking part in looting of shop during Dublin riots in November 2023

Niamh O’Donoghue

A man has been jailed for taking part in the looting of a shop during the Dublin City Centre riots in November 2023.

William Cawley (52), who has been homeless since he was 16, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of burglary at Footlocker on O’Connell Street on November 23rd 2023.

There was no suggestion he was part of the rioting, the court was told. He has 18 previous convictions including one for assault causing harm.

Detective Garda Dermot O’Sullivan gave evidence that there was an incident at a childcare centre earlier that day and there was a significant protest in the city when a riot broke out.

There was a high degree of violence throughout the city centre, he said. The court heard that 15 garda vehicles were damaged, two of them completely destroyed and two fire engines were destroyed.

Overall multiple millions of euro of damage was caused including 36 premises, three buses and three Luas trams.

The court was told €80,000 of property loss was incurred with a further €65,000 in other economic losses. Some workers could not come to work for a while, felt unsafe and some staff returned to their country.

The court was told 13 garda members were injured and five civilians were assaulted throughout the evening. Hundreds of suspects were identified in the course of the garda investigation.

Cawley was captured on CCTV footage of the night and a woman is seen handing him a package. This woman was his long-term partner.

Cawley and the woman had been in a relationship for 15 years and he since discovered her body in a tent where she was living on Pearse Street in the city.

His father also died in June this year, the court was told.

Aidan MacCarthy BL defending, told the court Cawley suffered from alcohol addiction and asked the judge to structure a sentence to address his alcohol addiction.

Judge Elma Sheahan handed down a one-year sentence with the final six months of it and backdated it to November 6th last for time spent in custody.