A judge heard at Castleblayney District Court, Co Monaghan, yesterday, how gardaí had obtained records of convictions through Interpol in relation to a Latvian man who faced charges after the snatch of three camcorders from a store in Monaghan town.
Aleksandrs Afansjevs (24), The Lawn, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to the charges under the Larceny Act relating to the unlawful possession of the camcorders, property of Gillanders Stores, on August 29th last.
Garda Gerard Rice, Carrickmacross, told the court that gardaí stopped a car on the N2 Dublin/ Derry route at Castleblayney in which Afansjevs was accompanied by two other foreign nationals. He said a search of the vehicle led to the discovery of the stolen camcorders.
Gardaí subsequently obtained video evidence of Afansjevs's action in removing the camcorders from a cabinet in the store, which, it was revealed, he had unlocked with the use of a key in his possession.
A defence lawyer said that in the light of the video evidence, Afansjevs indicated his willingness to plead guilty, although he had earlier insisted he was given the stolen items by another party who was not before the court.
Judge Flann Brennan remanded Afansjevs until a further sitting on March 6th to give the Court Probation Service an opportunity of establishing if Afansjevs was suitable for undertaking community service.