Burglar had iron bar and toy rifle

A mother of two who left her children playing in the back garden while she stepped out for a few minutes returned to find a stranger in the house with an iron bar and her son’s toy rifle.

Nicky O’Driscoll, 36, of The Cottage, Farmers Cross, Cork, pleaded guilty yesterday to committing the burglary at the house at Greenwood Estate, Togher, Cork, on April 29 2013.

Judge Olann Kelleher imposed an eight-month jail sentence on O’Driscoll. The judge said it was a very frightening thing to happen in the family home even though the children were out in the garden and unaware at the time of the intruder.

Insp. McPolin said the mother left the house at 6.40pm having secured it, leaving the children playing in the back. She was only gone for five to 10 minutes.

When she returned, she noticed an iron bar on the banister of the stairs, and while she had not seen it there before, she presumed it was something that her husband had left out.

She went into a back room downstairs and then heard a noise from the front room. She went out to see an unknown male who was holding the iron bar that she had seen on the stairs. He was also carrying the toy rifle. The woman shouted at him and he left.

Michael Quinlan, defence solicitor, said: “At the time, he was addicted to alcohol and drugs.” However, he said O’Driscoll has been in custody for the past few weeks and was attending to his drug difficulties and doing much better.