Burglar's sentence remains suspended

An application by the State to reactivate the sentence of a burglar who stole from nurses in a children’s hospital has been rejected by Judge Katherine Delahunt after the man stayed committed to his drug treatment programme.

Albert Redmond (aged 31) of Donore Terrace, South Brown Street, Pimlico, who had 193 previous convictions, walked around Crumlin Children’s Hospital carrying two teddy bears looking for "easy pickings". He later "donated" the teddy bears to the hospital when he met a security man on his way out.

Judge Delahunt gave him a three-year suspended sentence on March 22, 2007 at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after Redmond pleaded guilty two counts of theft from nurses in the hospital on February 6, 2006.

Judge Delahunt had described it as a "horrible nasty crime" and said Redmond’s number of previous convictions "surpassed anything I have seen in this court".

She noted that Redmond had a "chronic drug addiction" and imposed a three-year sentence, suspended for five years on strict conditions that he attend a designated drug treatment program.

Sergeant Mark Kelly told Judge Delahunt that since the suspension of the sentence Redmond has pleaded guilty at the District Court to possession of a stolen credit card.

He accepted in cross-examination from Ms Marie Torrens BL, defending, that this new offence occurred 11 months ago and Redmond had not come to Garda attention since.

He further accepted that Redmond was progressing very well with a drug treatment programme and said that he had managed to stay off drugs.

Judge Delahunt said that based on what she described as "the very fair evidence of Sergeant Kelly" and a positive probation report before the court, she was not going to reactivate the sentence.