Man jailed for damage to hotel room

A Limerick man with 82 previous convictions has been jailed for criminal damage to a Roscommon hotel.

Martin O’Reilly (25), with an address at Kilmurray Drive, Castleroy, Limerick, appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens at Athlone District Court last week, charged with criminal damage to a bedroom at the Hodson Bay Hotel, on December 14 last year.

On that date, between 3am and 6am, the night duty manager called Gardaí regarding damage to the room occupied by the accused and his partner. Gardaí had been called earlier in the night when an altercation had occurred with both parties, the court heard.

Mr O’Reilly, who is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for violent disorder, with a release date of February 2027, entered a guilty plea to the charge.

His 82 previous convictions included multiple thefts, violent disorder, public order, trespass, affray, production of articles, driving without insurance, driving without a licence, dangerous driving and hit and run.

In mitigation, solicitor Ciara Macklin told the court that her client is a 25-year-old single man from Limerick, with no children.

She said he had travelled up on the train and he and the woman he was with had drunk a number of spirits in the bar before proceeding up to the room.

“Both have mental health issues and his partner became unstable. He was trying to calm her down and, in the course of that, the television and a light fitting must have become damaged,” she said.

“He doesn’t think he caused the damage, but he accepts the blame. There has always been a history in the past that whenever he got in trouble, he put his hands up.”

She added that Mr O’Reilly was not in a position to repay the hotel for the damage, which totalled €50 for the light fitting and €700 for the television, but he accepts that he is guilty by association.

Judge Owens proceeded to sentence Mr O’Reilly to six months in prison, concurrent to the sentence he is currently serving.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme