Man says vandalism rampage was ‘madness’

The NCT centre in Little Island was broken into by three men who fled, caused damage at a shop, then went to a nearby garage, where they damaged four cars.

One of the men described his actions as madness.

“I was off my head,” Mark McGann, aged 22, of 47 The Courtyard, Castleredmond, Midleton, Co Cork, told the investigating garda.

Detective Garda Edmond O’Donoghue said at Cork District Court yesterday: “It was madness and stupidity, rather than any criminal mastermind.”

He outlined the background to three separate offences in the Little Island area on October 28.

“He was in the company of two other males,” the officer said. The accused fled the NCT centre when the alarm was activated. The trio also turned up at The Range shop, where damage was caused to a glass door.

Finally, the accused and others went to ABS Motors, Rockgrove industrial estate, where four cars were damaged, but no property was taken. Judge Olann Kelleher sentenced the accused to six months in prison.

Solicitor Mary Creed said: “He has since applied for rehabilitation. He has an uncle in Galway, who could get him a job when he gets out of prison. He genuinely wants to get help.

“He has been in custody since two weeks after this”.