Home heating oil thief ‘lowest of the low’
A father of five, who had been stopped at a routine checkpoint when a Garda noticed that there was a strong smell of diesel coming from his petrol car, was jailed for nine months for having equipment used to steal home heating oil, at Galway District Court on Wednesday.
In imposing the sentence, Judge Mary Fahy said she was making an example of the defendant, whose actions she described as ‘the lowest of the low’.
“Some people pay for everything, some people pay for nothing – I expect that he is of the latter group,” she said.
Garda Pat Fahy had told the court that he was on uniformed duty at a checkpoint on Newcastle Road just before midnight on October 19 last year when he stopped a Dublin-registered car.
He noticed that the driver, Thomas Myers (41), of 58 Murrough Drive, Renmore, seemed very nervous; he was accompanied by another man.
The Garda proceeded to search the vehicle and, in the foot-well of the front passenger seat, he recovered two pairs of gloves, a vice grips, a torch, and a screwdriver.
“It was a petrol car but there was a strong smell of diesel or kerosene,” he said.
“He could give no explanation for having the implements. I believe that he had them for the theft of home heating oil,” Garda Fahy added.
The court heard that Myers had 19 previous convictions, seven of which were theft-related, and three of which were for the same offence. In some cases he had been given suspended sentences, on the basis that he would not reoffend, the Garda said.
“He’s got his chances… let’s look at the other side of the coin – there are people who cannot turn on the heat in their homes because they don’t have the money to do so,” the Judge replied.
“A fill of kerosene can cost up to €1,200, and the likes of Mr Myers stealing it is pathetic and low-down. I can’t believe how low a person can stoop … people are paying mortgages, and for oil, and a lot are struggling – even working people.”
“It is the lowest of the low; it was well known that it was going on, we all had read about it,” she added.
“I want to send out the message to others who may be thinking about it, as the winter approaches, to think carefully before they do it.”
Myers was further disqualified from driving for two years as, the Judge said, he had used his vehicle for criminality.
For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.