Waterford District Court recently heard a case involving a burglary at a café in the city last summer.
A man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Judge John Cheatle in court at the end of May. He pleaded guilty to burglary, contrary to Section 12 (1) (b) & (3) of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, in connection to an incident that occurred at Park Lodge café, Waterford city, in August 2025. He was produced in court from prison, where he is currently serving a sentence for an unrelated matter.
The court was told that on 24 August 2025, Gardaí received a report from the café owners to state that windows in the property had been damaged and smashed, and personal items were missing. The total value of damage caused was around €500 and Gardaí identified the accused as being involved from CCTV footage, it was heard.
The man is a registered sex offender, and also pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to notify Gardaí of a change in his address in February of this year, contrary to Section 12 of the Sex Offenders Act, 2001. He additionally pleaded guilty to separate charges of theft of alcohol worth €33 from SuperValu, Kilbarry, Waterford, and being intoxicated in public at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) both on 5 July 2025, contrary to Section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act and Section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act.
It was heard that while he informed Gardaí that he would be changing address in January 2026, he was not present at his new address during checks that were carried out the following month, which led to him being charged under failing to notify Gardaí.
It was also noted that the accused has nine previous convictions including possession of child sexual abuse material (known as child pornography) along with drug, road traffic, and public order matters.
Acting for the defendant, solicitor Ken Cunningham said the burglary incident occurred during a period of time where the accused had gone “off the rails”, which included being homeless. Mr Cunningham added that the burglary occurred late at night, and no one had been present in the café at the time.
The solicitor highlighted that while a co-accused person is currently before the courts in connection with the burglary his client “accepts culpability” for his role in the incident.
Judge Cheatle handed the accused a six month prison sentence for the burglary charge. All other matters were taken into consideration.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme
Robyn Power
