Fingal man has sentence adjourned over bird killings

A Fingal man who broke into an aviary and killed 12 "unusual and exotic display birds" by pulling their heads off has had his sentence adjourned to allow him turn over a new leaf "whether he likes it or not."

Glen Conroy (aged 20) had drunk 12 cans of beer and a litre of vodka when he and an accomplice broke into Newbridge House in Donabate, which contains an aviary for exotic and rare birds.

He also "kept sketch" for an accomplice while he burgled a 92-year-old man’s home.

Conroy a father-of-one, of Mourne View, Skerries pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary and criminal damage on April 13, 2006. He caused €160 worth of damage to the aviary fence. He also pleaded guilty to another burglary in Skerries and unlawful interference with a car on December 15, 2006.

He is currently serving a three year term handed down last May for robbing a 52-year-old Swords mother and is not due for release until 2009 at the earliest.

His 33 previous convictions include robbery, firearms, burglary, and assault offences.

Judge Patricia Ryan said because of Conroy’s young age and because she would have to impose consecutive sentences she would adjourn the case for four months with him in custody to give him "an opportunity to get his act together whether he likes it or not."

She was told Conroy suffered from ADHD and had a "serious drink problem and propensity for violence."

Detective Garda Aidan McGuire told prosecuting counsel, Mr Paul Carroll BL, that Conroy mutilated and killed 12 "invaluable and irreplaceable" birds worth €2,670.

Several of them cannot be replaced because it is forbidden to import them due to the bird flu epidemic in Asia. Four birds also escaped from their enclosures and were not recovered.

Garda Declan McGarvey told Mr Carroll that Conroy also acted as a look out while an accomplice broke into a 92-year-old man’s home as he slept and took his car keys. The pair took his car and caused €3,000 damage to it.

Defence counsel, Mr Damien Colgan BL, said Conroy was abused as a child and had received very little formal education to the extent that he is unable to read a newspaper.