A 'cunning thief' who concocted ‘a fairytale story’ concerning the disappearance of 15 steel manhole covers along the Ennis to Gort motorway yesterday escaped jail.
At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan said that Jonathan ‘Shane’ O’Donoghue (20) of Bog Rd, Tulla, Co Clare should instead get a ‘pick and spade’ and carry out 120 hours community work for the offence.
At the court hearing prior to yesterday, Judge Durcan said that he had “in mind a lengthy prison sentence” for Mr O’Donoghue who has pleaded guilty in connection with the disappearance of 15 steel manhole covers from the Ennis to Gort motorway.
Judge Durcan said that Mr O’Donoghue had concocted a ‘fairytale’ story explaining the disappearance of the manholes.
Judge Durcan said that Mr O’Donoghue was caught ‘red handed’ when Gardai saw Mr O’Donoghue remove a steel manhole cover from the motorway works and place it in a nearby van on March 5th last year at Tubber adjacent to the Limerick to Galway motorway.
Judge Durcan said that Mr O’Donoghue had engaged in “an audacious kind of criminality”.
Garda Catriona Mangan said that in a Garda interview, Mr O’Donoghue “claimed that he met a man at the side of the motorway on his way out of Limerick and this man told him he could buy all the manhole covers from Ennis to Gort and he had permission to take them”.
Garda Mangan said that Mr O’Donoghue told her that the man he bought the manhole covers from had also arranged to sell him two tonnes of ‘cats’ eyes’ and this was included in the €110 price.
In court yesterday, solicitor for Mr O’Donoghue, John Casey said that Mr O’Donoghue had suffered "embarrassment and humiliation" from the publicity around the case.
He said: “The way it comes across is comical in one way, but it is a very serious matter in another way.”
Judge Durcan interjected to state that “it is comical and that is nothing to do with the defendant – it is comical that it is so easy to commit this crime, that it is what is comical about it. It is comical that the National Roads Authority don’t have the manholes sufficiently secured.”
Mr Casey said that the case has hit Mr O’Donoghue – who is a member of the travelling community and has no previous convictions – very hard.
He said: “I’m not saying that he is a point of ridicule for people, but it hasn’t been easy few months for him. He has just not had a very easy life, he has brought this on himself – no one else is to blame.”
However, Inspector Tom Kennedy said that Mr O’Donoghue “is not as innocent as is being betrayed”.
Describing him as ‘a cunning thief’, Insp Kennedy said that “the taking of manhole covers shows total cheek of the highest order”.
He said that it was “terribly irresponsible” to take the man-hole covers in order to turn over a few pounds for scrap.
He said: “It is anything but comical. Mr O’Donoghue saw an opportunity and he disregarded everyone’s safety on the motorway.
“I know the manhole covers aren’t in the middle of the motorway, but a person could have been seriously injured if they were in the areas of the stolen manhole covers.”
Insp Kennedy said: “It is not a situation we had seen before. We have had huge issues with stealing of scrap and this represents a new low in that someone would be so brazen to take manhole covers."
