Smash and grab burglar caused €10,000 worth of damage

By Eimear Dodd

A man has been jailed for his role in a smash and grab burglary which caused €10,000 worth of damage to a building.

Anthony Hatton (36) of Montpelier Drive, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary at the Eir building, Heuston South Quarter, on February 6, 2018.

An investigating garda told Derek Cooney BL, prosecuting, today that on the day in question, a black Opel Corsa arrived outside the Eir building and mounted the footpath.

Hatton got out of the car and directed it towards windows of the building. The car reversed into the window panes a number of times.

The window panes smashed and Hatton entered the building where he broke off a podium, containing laptops and phones, from the ground.

He passed the podium out of the window and it was placed in the car.

Gardaí arrived at the scene and the driver of the car took off up Military Road. Hatton was still in the building when gardaí arrived.

He was arrested and taken to a garda station, where he was initially deemed unfit for interview.

When the driver of the car was arrested later that day, he was found with two smartphones.

No other items were recovered. The car was later found in Naas, Co. Kildare.

€10,000 damage was caused to the building and two panes of glass had to be replaced.

No victim impact statement was made.

Hatton has 150 previous convictions, including five for burglary. 29 of his convictions occurred since this incident.

The court heard that Hatton’s co-accused, the driver of the car, was handed a three-year prison sentence with 18 months suspended.

The investigating garda agreed with Karl Monahan BL, defending, when asked about the burglary, Hatton told gardaí “I’m guilty”.

He also said he couldn’t remember the incident, but accepted his role in the burglary.

Hatton identified himself on CCTV and has been in custody since last July after a bench warrant was executed.

Mr Monahan told the court his client left school after the Junior Certificate and has some work history.

Hatton has addiction issues and started to use alcohol and drugs at the age of 16 before moving on to cocaine, heroin and crack cocaine.

Defence counsel said his client committed this crime to feed his drugs habit and was under the influence of alcohol, tablets and crack cocaine at the time.

Hatton has previously completed a detoxification programme, but relapsed.

Since entering custody, Hatton has completed a detoxification programme and wishes to undertake a residential treatment programme.

Judge Martin Nolan noted Hatton made admissions in custody and seems to be doing well in prison. He handed him an 18-month sentence, backdated to July 7, 2022.