A Dublin man has been jailed for six and a half years for his role in a burglary spree in Co Roscommon over 18 months ago.
The 48-year-old broke into businesses in Frenchpark, Tulsk, Fourmilehouse and Knockcroghery.
Roscommon Circuit Court today heard Eugene Traynor, with an address at Aderrig Square, Adamstown, Lucan, Co Dublin, was one of three people involved in several burglaries in Co Roscommon in the early hours of August 13, 2024.
They first broke into Mitchell’s shop and post office in Frenchpark at 1.30am and stole confectionery.
At 2.10am, they attempted to break into O’Connor’s pub and shop in Tulsk, by getting in through the roof, and caused €300 worth of damage.
They broke into another business in Tulsk, BS Exhausts, around 40 minutes later and stole several electric tools and a BMW, valued at €20,000.
Shortly after 4am, they entered McSharry Brothers Plant Sales in Fourmilehouse and took around €300 or €400.
Around half an hour later, they entered Daybreak in Knockcroghery after travelling there in two stolen BMWs, and took €1,000 in cash, over €13,000 in cigarettes and over €2,500 worth of vapes.
One of the cars was found burnt out nearby and the men made their way to Athlone in the other BMW, before getting the train to Dublin.
Traynor pleaded guilty to theft, criminal damage and four counts of burglary.
In his victim impact statement, Luke Mee, the owner of Daybreak in Knockcroghery, said the break-in had a deep impact on his life, business and sense of security, with masked men breaking into his store.
He said he’d suffered anxiety since the crime, fearing a repeat.
The court heard Traynor has 36 previous convictions, including burglary, drugs, firearms and road-traffic offences – which Judge Kenneth Connolly described as a ‘shameful record’.
Defence barrister, Senior Counsel Desmond Dockery, said Traynor had a longstanding drugs addiction.
He described the burglary spree as an ‘audacious night of ransacking and thieving around the county of Roscommon’.
He said, in Traynor’s case, it was to feed his drugs problem – which he said his client is making a serious effort to overcome.
Judge Connolly said there was a significant element of pre-meditation to the burglary spree, and it had elements of sophistication.
He sentenced Traynor to six and a half years in prison.
He said he wasn’t suspending any of it because Traynor had several suspended sentences in the past and failed to avail of the opportunities they presented.
He noted he was on bail at the time of the Roscommon spree and is currently in prison serving another sentence.
Therefore, Traynor’s six-and-a-half-year sentence will only start in July 2027.
Traynor wasn’t in court today but joined via videolink from Mountjoy Prison.
