A MAN has been jailed for seven months after being charged with various theft offences.

Falcarragh District Court heard that Brian Ward, 32 Silver Hill, Bundoran, who appeared by video link from Castlerea Prison where he has been in custody, has 95 previous convictions, mainly for theft and public order offences.

Providing details of the latest charges, Sergeant Jim Collins said that staff at the Penneys store at Letterkenny Shopping Centre on February 23, 2022, noted that two males had entered the premises and had placed a number of clothing items into a buggy before exiting the store without paying. The clothing was valued at €75.

On July 20, 2023, defendant entered Sweeney’s Spar Express at Ballyraine, Letterkenny, and proceeded to lift items, valued at €43, before wheeling them out in a pram, again without paying.

Ward was further charged with a public order incident at Letterkenny Retail Park on August 25, 2023. He was reported to have been in a highly intoxicated state at the time of the incident.

On the same date, he was charged with the theft of a pair of trainers valued at €75 euro from the TK Maxx store at Letterkenny Retail Park.

“It goes without saying that my client has a very poor record,” defending solicitor Rory O’Brien told the court.

But he said the offences occurred when Ward was locked in a chronic alcohol addiction which had blighted much of his life.

His client had voluntarily gone into custody two weeks before the court sitting and was working on his addiction difficulties while undertaking various courses.

“All of these offences occurred while he was under the influence or for the purposes of obtaining alcohol,” added Mr O’Brien.

“I’m very sorry for what I’ve done,” the defendant told Judge Ciaran Liddy, adding that he intended to continue to work on his addiction problems.

Judge Liddy sentenced Ward to seven months in prison on the charge of the theft from Sweeney’s Spar store.

The remaining matters were taken into consideration.