A former director of a Kerry plant hire and subcontracting company resigned because of his convictions for handling and possession of stolen vehicles, a court has heard.
Tom O’Connor (47) told gardaí he had become involved with people he described as “hooky” and he was afraid to identify them.
O’Connor of Bolton’s Cross, Listowel, and formerly Bunagarha, Listowel, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to handling a stolen Volvo A25D dump truck at Brittas, Co Dublin, on a date between December 2009 and April 2010. He has five previous convictions including a conviction at Tralee Circuit Criminal Court in 2011 for possession in December 2009 of a stolen John Deere tractor valued at €35,000.
O’Connor resigned as the director of O’Connor Plant Hire and Ground Works in Listowel last year because he believed his continued involvement would damage the company’s reputation.
He was declared bankrupt in 2012 and is now unemployed and on social welfare.
Det Garda Eugene O’Sullivan told the court that O’Connor was not involved in stealing or “cloning” the stolen vehicle which had its chassis number, VIN plate and engine number removed and replaced with alternatives. Judge Desmond Hogan remanded him on continuing bail until January. He said he needed time to consider his sentence and ordered a report from the Probation Services.
He asked how the accused had come into contact with people who had a truck that had originally been stolen from a quarry in Scotland. “He should have known better,” said the judge.
Det Garda O’Sullivan told Gerardine Small, prosecuting, that in April 2010 he received a phone call from a “concerned citizen” in the trade who thought they had just been offered the truck for sale.The truck had been stolen from a quarry in Scotland and the vehicle identification numbers had been altered.