“Serial burglar” jailed after breaking into family home

By Declan Brennan

A serial house burglar who broke into a house where a mother was at home with her infant has received a prison term of five years.

The couple told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the sense of security they once had in their own home has never returned since they found Thomas Redmond (41) there in January 2024.

Redmond, formerly of Ard Donagh, Ennistymon, Co. Clare, pleaded guilty to burglary at a house on Bird Ave, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14 on January 9, 2024. He was on bail for a 2022 offence of trespass at a house in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, when he burgled the house in 2024.

The court heard Redmond’s modus operandi was to cycle around housing estates and knock on the doors of houses to see if they were unoccupied before entering.

“He would sneak into the house, get the stash, leave and get rid of the stash,” defending counsel Marc Thompson, SC, said. Counsel said that when Redmond realised somebody was in the house, he tried to get out as quickly as possible.

He said his client felt revulsion for the fact that in this case, the house was occupied by a mother and her child, and that he wanted to apologise to the victims.

Garda Colin Rafter told Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, that Redmond’s 72 previous convictions include burglary, trespass, criminal damage and road traffic offences.

The court heard that the family had only recently moved into the house. The woman was on the bed in an upstairs bedroom with her baby asleep beside her when she heard the doorbell ringing loudly, followed by a loud noise.

She walked out onto the landing and sensed something was wrong downstairs, and felt fearful. Her partner arrived home at this point, and his wife saw him outside at the front door, the court heard. 

He said his wife then saw the burglar running up the stairs towards her. Redmond ran past her and into the bedroom, and she ran after him to protect her baby.

She saw him getting out through the window and “escaping into the darkness”, her partner told the court in a victim impact report on behalf of them both. He said that the psychological and emotional effects of having “a stranger entering your home uninvited” were immense. 

“Every night we check every lock twice. We hesitate every time we leave the house,” he stated. He said burglaries are not victimless crimes and are a violation of the most personal and sacred space.

“The sense of security taken from us that day has never fully returned,” he said.

Judge Martin Nolan said he accepted that Redmond’s intention was to burgle unoccupied houses and that when he realised there were people in the house, he tried to escape as best he could.

But he said it was a serious matter and said, “People are entitled to believe they are safe in their own houses”.

Redmond also admitted an offence of trespass at a house in Stillorgan on November 30, 2022, in an incident where he was aggressively pushing at the front door but stopped when he saw there was a young man inside the house.

Judge Nolan sentenced him to a total of five years for both offences.