Blood stain at scene of burglary at Cork restaurant identified culprit who pleaded guilty to crime

Defendant has 163 previous convictions, court told

Owner of Izz Café told gardaí €590 in cash was missing from the till. Picture: Dan Linehan

A blood stain found at the scene of a burglary at the Izz Café on George’s Quay in Cork was traced to a man with 163 previous convictions, and now he has confessed to this latest crime and been jailed for nine months.

Judge David Waters imposed that sentence on 39-year-old Donal O’Sullivan, who is originally from the Fairhill area of Cork, of no fixed address at Cork District Court.

Defence solicitor Shane Collins-Daly said of the accused: “He spent a lot of his life in and out of custody and wanted to plead guilty to this offence as soon as he could. He is spending his time in custody [srving another sentence] productively, he accepts he must get a custodial sentence for this burglary.” 

Sergeant Gearóid Davis outlined the background to the crime.

On February 7, Garda Katie Bland responded to a report of a burglary at Izz Cafe, Georges Quay, Cork. The owner told her when he arrived at the cafe that morning he noticed the back door was open. He further noticed the till area was disturbed and the €590 cash that had been in the till was missing.

CCTV was downloaded and it showed a man entering the property at about 4am via the back of the café. He spent up to 25 minutes in the property before leaving with the cash.

Garda scenes-of-crime members attended the scene and recovered a swab of blood from the card machine. The DNA profile was sent to Forensic Science Ireland. It was entered onto the DNA database system and a match was found to Donal O'Sullivan.

When questioned, he admitted the crime immediately.