Burglar had scrambled eggs with man after breaking into mosque

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 allowed attend residential drug treatment prior to sentencing.

Stefan Boyle (28) was spotted by Ali Yassine hiding under a table in a 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, 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 Seamus Clarke BL, prosecuting, that Mr Yassine did not 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.

Judge Karen O’Connor noted Boyle had been assessed as suitable for residential treatment and said she would adjourn sentencing until January to allow him take up a place when it become available.

CCTV footage

During the sentence hearing 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 did not have the cash for that.

Boyle said Mr Yassine made him scrambled eggs and he told Mr Yassine 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, said Boyle apologised for his behaviour on the night. He said his client was 17-years-old when his child died from leukaemia.

Mr O’Brien told Judge O’Connor that Boyle was very anxious to take up a place in residential drug treatment and it was something of a last chance for him. The court heard a place would be available for Boyle at Coolmine Therapeutic Centre in the next four to six weeks.

Judge O’Connor said Boyle was to be collected from Cloverhill Prison by a staff member of Coolmine when a bed was available and he was to complete the residential and after-care programme. Gardaí were to be notified in the case of any breach of the conditions.

She told Boyle: “This is your very very final chance.”