Convicted slash hook attacker admits breaking into house to steal bicycle and power tools
A Co Donegal man has been jailed for nine months after admitting breaking into a house and stealing a bicycle and power tools.Dean Kelly appeared at Letterkenny District Court by videolink from Castlerea Prison where he is serving a sentence for another incident.Kelly, aged 30 and with an address at The Green, Convoy, is charged with burglary at a house at Glencar Irish on August 31, 2024.Read moreHospital bag thief was qualified nurse who had hit ‘rock bottom’Garda Sergeant Maurice Doyle outlined how a shed at a house at Glencar Irish was broken into.A Giant brand of bicycle valued at €800 and power tools to the value of €400 were taken.The court was told that Kelly was arrested on March 6, 2025 and admitted breaking into the shed and stealing the items.Crime Wrap Tuesday March 24 The bicycle was recovered but the power tools were never found.The court was told that the accused man has 23 previous convictions including burglary and robbery.He is currently serving a two year sentence which was handed down recently at Letterkenny Circuit Court after he struck a taxi man twice with a slash hook.Read moreDrunken thug spat in shopkeeper’s face and smashed store front during drinking ‘bender’Solicitor for Kelly, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said his client lost his mother at a young age and that other people had stepped in to looked after him.He said he left school at an early age and became involved with alcohol and drugs.He added that on the night in question, Kelly was not the only person present and that the accused was in the court’s hands.Passing sentence, Judge Grainne Malone said she accepted Kelly was in custody and that she did not intend to increase his sentence.She said he had pleaded guilty, made admissions and accepted responsibility.She said there was a plea of guilty but also said there were a lot of previous convictions.Judge Malone said the issue of burglary and trespass caused a lot of stress for the victims and told Kelly that he has to understand that if he keeps “going down this route” he can get a consecutive sentence.She sentenced Kelly to nine months in prison for the theft but said the sentence is to run concurrently to his current sentence.
