A 22-year-old man who pleaded guilty to 14 incidents of theft says he’d be safer in prison than in Tralee due to his chronic drug addiction.
Dylan Warrilow, who had been residing in Arlington Lodge in Tralee, pleaded guilty to a string of thefts from shops in the Tralee area totalling over €2,700.
Tralee District Court was told that Mr Warrilow’s family had been threatened by people to whom he owed money for drugs.
On March 18th, Mr Warrilow took property worth €823 from Currys in Tralee, and the same day stole property worth over €100 from Tesco.
On April 1st this year, Mr Warrilow stole property from Aldi worth €189, €199 worth of property from Harvey Norman, and €294 worth of property from Lidl on the Castlemaine Road in Tralee.
He also stole property worth €549 from Harvey Norman on April 26th, but Sergeant Chris Manton told the court this property was recovered and resaleable.
He also committed one theft in Tralee on May 24th this year, after he had earlier that day been convicted in court in Limerick City for offences including burglary and theft.
Earlier this month, Mr Warrilow stole property worth €150 from Elverys, and €152 worth of property from Christys gift store in Killarney.
Mr Warrilow’s solicitor, Pádraig O’Connell, said his client requested that the court impose an immediate custodial sentence, as he lives in dread and fear.
He said Mr Warrilow was residing in homeless accommodation in Tralee, and simply using the items he stole to feed a habit for a day or weekend, getting very little value from the items.
Mr O’Connell said this is a dreadful situation, and is endemic of what’s going on in society.
He added this is a tragic situation for him and his family, but prison is where he wants to go as he feels he would be safer there than Tralee.
Mr O’Connell said his client is in a bad way, and urged the judge not to impose consecutive sentences for his offending because of how forthcoming his client had been.
Judge Waters said one of the most worrying aspects to this case was that a probation report noted people, to whom he owes money for drugs, are targeting his family.
The court was told that despite the threats, Mr Warrilow’s family stand behind him totally.
Judge Waters sentenced him to five months in prison for each count, with all sentences to run concurrently because of his early guilty plea and that he only has two previous convictions.
