Burglar sat down to have scrambled eggs with victim

A burglar who sat down to have scrambled eggs with his victim, after lunging at the man with a knife and stealing his phones, will be sentenced next month.

Stefan Boyle (28) was spotted by Ali Yassine hiding under a table in a Dublin mosque and was told to leave. Boyle then lunged at him with a knife, nicking the victim before he tried to escape out a window.

Mr Yassine, a caretaker in the mosque in Dundrum, kicked the burglar in self defence and told him to relax. He then made him scrambled eggs and sat down with him while Boyle told him his life story.

Garda Seán Duignan told Séamus Clarke BL, prosecuting, that Mr Yassine didn’t realise until after Boyle left that he had stolen two phones from his bedroom, which was in a building attached to the mosque.

The following day, while Mr Yassine was in the city centre organising for his phones to be blocked, he happened to bump into Boyle. He asked the man if he taken the phones and the burglar handed them back to him and apologised.

Boyle, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary of Ali Hussain House, Milltown Bridge, Dundrum on November 2nd, 2016. He has 110 previous convictions, 63 of which are for burglary.

Garda Duignan said Boyle was arrested eight days later after they got a decent description of him from Mr Yassine and were able to view CCTV footage from the mosque.

He told gardaí that he had got on well with the victim, described him as “a good guy” and apologised.

He said he wanted to get money for drugs and had forgotten that he had taken the phones during his 30-minute conversation with Mr Yassine. He said it would cost him €15 per phone to unlock them and he didn’t have the cash for that.

Boyle said Mr Yassine made him scrambled eggs and he told the victim that he was homeless, that he had been in and out of prison, and that he was having problems with his girlfriend.

He said he got in to the mosque through an open window in the ladies toilet. He said he got a fright when he saw Mr Yassine, but told gardaí the victim was able to defend himself.

James O’Brien BL, defending, asked for the case to be adjourned to allow for the preparation of a probation report.

He said his client was 17 years old when his child died from leukaemia. He said Boyle apologised for his behaviour on the night.

Judge Karen O’Connor ordered an updated report and adjourned the case to June 26th next for sentence.