Gardaí found ‘incompetent’ burglar on supermarket roof

An “incompetent but recidivist” burglar who was caught by gardaí with €21,000 worth of stolen cigarettes on the roof of a Co Cork supermarket has been jailed for two years.

Kevin Coade (38) pleaded guilty to burglary at the Centra Supermarket, Main Street, Killeagh, Co Cork on February 24th 2016 when he was arraigned at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Det Sgt Sean Leahy told the court that the owner of the supermarket was contacted by the alarm company at 1.30am on the day to say that an intruder alarm had gone off.

The owner went to the supermarket where he could hear a banging noise coming from the upstairs office area of the shop. He alerted gardaí who were quickly on the scene.

Gardaí found Coade of Friar’s Street, Cork with a claw hammer by his feet and discovered he had gained entry to the shop and offices through a smashed velux window on the roof.

They found €21,000 of cigarettes had been taken from the office area and put out on the roof for removal, said Det Sgt Leahy, who accepted that an accomplice had broken the window.

Det Sgt Leahy said that Coade was out on bail at the time on charges of handling stolen property and he had 54 previous convictions including ones for theft, robbery, drugs and false imprisonment.

Defence barrister, Paula McCarthy BL, said Coade had a serious addiction to both cocaine and prescription medicines and he had committed the burglary to pay off a €7,500 drugs debt.

Judge Sean O’Donnabhain said there was no doubt Coade was “an incompetent but recidivist criminal” and a significant aggravating factor was that this offence was committed while on bail.

However he said Coade must be given credit for his guilty plea and he also noted that the goods were recovered.