The Court of Appeal has upheld a five-year sentence imposed on Martin Conroy after he burgled the Castlebar home of a man in his seventies and falsely claimed to be a Garda when the householder returned.
Conroy pleaded guilty in Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to burglary and impersonating a member of An Garda Síochána. He received five years' imprisonment for burglary, with the final 18 months suspended for 18 months on conditions requiring residential alcohol treatment and Probation Service supervision. The impersonation offence was taken into consideration.
The offences arose on 12 December 2016 at 104 Chestnut Grove, Castlebar. Padraig Boland returned home at about 6pm to find his front door ajar and a sitting-room window broken. He saw Conroy inside wearing a high-visibility jacket. Conroy told him: "It's alright Sir, I'm a Garda", but produced no identification.
Mr Boland went to a neighbour's home to have Gardaí called. Conroy fled and was later found by Garda Noelle Barrett hiding in a dog kennel at a nearby property. He made full admissions after arrest. Nothing of monetary value had been taken, but Mr Boland was left with continuing anxiety.
Conroy had 50 previous convictions, including seven burglaries. The appeal court said those similar convictions were a significant aggravating factor rather than simply the absence of previous good character.
It accepted that a five-year headline sentence was towards the severe end of the sentencing judge's available range but held that it remained permissible. Relevant factors included the burglary of an occupied home, Mr Boland's age and vulnerability, damage to the house and the false claim to be a Garda.
The court also rejected Conroy's argument that insufficient credit had been given for his guilty plea and rehabilitation efforts. It held that suspending 18 months represented substantial mitigation and specifically supported his planned residential treatment for longstanding alcoholism.
The sentence appeal was dismissed.