A claim by two suspected burglars from Co Cork that they were in Co Galway as they were having affairs with married women, has been described by a judge as a “cock and bull” story.
Declan Meehan (44) and Seán Hogan (39) were covered in mud when gardaí stopped their vehicle at Twomileditch, Castlegar, at 2.50am on May 10th last after receiving a call from a local about a 4x4 acting suspiciously.
Gardaí found a crowbar, two bolt cutters, Stanley knives, gloves, screwdrivers and several small torches on the floor between the seats in the vehicle, which was being driven by Hogan, of Cuirt na Gréine, Castlemartyr, and Churchfield Road, Cork.
Both men pleaded not guilty at Galway District Court to being found in possession of the implements with the intention they be used in connection with theft/burglary.
Hogan, who has 102 previous convictions, told gardaí the vehicle belonged to a friend, who used the tools in his line of work.
He told his barrister, Garry McDonald, that he could not fully explain why he was in Galway that night as “it was a sexual matter”.
Asked if he was having an affair, Hogan replied: “Yes, but I don’t want to mention the woman’s name. I feel ashamed I was having a relationship because the woman concerned is married.”
An unconvinced judge
Judge Mary Fahy said that “it mustn’t be a very satisfactory affair it you were going home at 3am on a bad night”.
Meehan, of St Patrick’s Arch, Gerald Griffin Street, Cork, told the court he had also come to Galway to meet a woman, with whom he had spent the day drinking.
He told the judge the woman had not been in the vehicle.
“It would have been very uncomfortable for her with all those tools lying around,” the judge told Meehan, who has 90 previous conviction.
The judge said the Garda evidence was strong and the pair had offered no reasonable explanation for being in the Castlegar area at that hour.
She said their defence was a “cock and bull” story, they had told “blatant untruths” under oath and it was “clear they were not in Galway for romancing or dancing that night”.
The judge sentenced the two men to 12 months in prison for having the implements in their possession. She imposed an additional four-month sentence on Hogan for driving without insurance and while disqualified.