Former addict stole €7k vessel from church
Mark Mosley, aged 24, who has 71 previous convictions, was also sentenced for robbing a mobile phone from a man at knifepoint at a Dart station, threatening a garda at court, and to a house burglary. He had been abusing alcohol, tablets, and heroin at the time.
The monstrance had been presented to St Bridget’s Church in Killester in 1927. It has not been recovered.
Mosley, of Cromcastle Park and Gracefield Avenue, Artane, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary at the church on June 13, 2015.
He admitted robbing a mobile phone at Harmonstown Dart Station on June 27, 2015. Mosley also pleaded guilty to burglary at a house at Glenwood Rd, Edenmore, Dublin, on January 13 this year and to making a threat towards Sgt Basil Grimes in the Criminal Courts of Justice two days later.
Garda Joan O’Connor told prosecuting counsel John Quirke BL, that Mosley broke into the church sacristy during the afternoon and ransacked the room. He stole the monstrance and left fingerprints at the scene which were traced back to him. He was arrested six months later in the city.
Garda O’Connor said that, on June 27, 2015, two men were at Harmonstown Dart Station at midnight when Mosley came along, intoxicated, wearing sunglasses, and carrying a pizza box and a bag of chips.
He produced a large kitchen knife and ordered the men to “give me your stuff”, while pointing the knife at them. One of the men handed over his mobile phone and Mosley ran off. He was later recognised from CCTV and arrested. He told gardaí he “didn’t really remember” much about the night as he had been abusing alcohol and drugs.
Garda Eoin Kennedy told the court that Mosley went to a house in Edenmore where he claimed to know the brother of a teenager living there. The teenager let him into the porch of the house but Mosley, who appeared agitated, went upstairs looking for the teenager’s brother’s bedroom.
He grabbed an ornamental sword which was in the bedroom and when the teenager told him it was blunt, Mosley said: “I’ll still be able to stab you with it.” Mosley picked up an iPad but put it back as he could not unlock it. He fled on a stolen bicycle but left his phone charging in the bedroom.
Garda Kennedy said the defendant claimed the teenager’s brother owed him money, but this was not the case.
Sentencing Mosley, Judge Elma Sheahan noted Mosley had a “sad and unfortunate” childhood. She said he now appeared to be drug-free but had been the subject of 88 disciplinary issues while in prison, including assaulting a prisoner and possessing contraband.
She sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment but suspended the final 18 months.
