Gardaí had to help drunk robber down from wall

A MAN who stole wood from a convent to throw on a bonfire was so drunk when gardaí found him he couldn’t get down from the wall of the property without the officers’ assistance.

Stephen Buckley, of 29 Killeens Place, Farranree, Cork, was yesterday jailed for three months by Judge Con O’Leary for the crime.

Buckley received a three-month concurrent sentence for a separate incident where he threw a beer can at a garda patrol car.

Inspector Mary King said Buckley, aged 23, stole two lengths of timber from St Mary’s convent, Harbour View Road, Cork, on the night on November 9 last.

Gardaí arrived at the scene to find him on a wall and had to help him down.

Defence solicitor Emmet Boyle said Buckley was too intoxicated to get down on his own. He had planned to take the wood to a bonfire where he and others had been drinking.

Buckley was seen by a security guard taking and then throwing the timber over the wall. He was caught after climbing onto the wall.

In an incident ten days earlier, gardaí went to Liffey Park in Mayfield to investigate a complaint that a large group of youths were causing a disturbance.

Garda Grace Quirke saw Buckley throw a beer can at a garda car. When Gda Quirke approached, Buckley told her to fuck off.

Mr Boyle said Buckley’s behaviour was alcohol-related and he had not consumed alcohol since the November 9 incident.

Buckley pleaded guilty to trespassing, theft and being drunk and a source of danger arising out of the November incident and being threatening and abusive in the public order incident.