Man rammed car into church in Terenure

A MAN who was arrested in a church after ramming a car through the door with two others and causing thousands of euro of damage has been jailed for one year.

Alan Ring (24), of Mac William Park, Tallaght, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary at St Joseph’s Church, Terenure Road, on August 8, 2014.

Garda Alan Lawlor told Joseph Barnes BL, prosecuting, that gardaí received a report of intruders at 5.15 am and went to the church where they found a car with the engine still running embedded in the rear door.

They apprehended Ring and the two other men who were in the process of ransacking the church for money. Gda Lawlor said the three men were “highly intoxicated” and that arresting them was not difficult.

The men had not taken anything but had broken glass panels and caused damage to the sacristy door. The total damage caused was €12,175.

“They weren’t looking for confession anyway,” said Judge Desmond Hogan.

Ring, who has 15 previous convictions including one for burglary, told gardaí that he had taken “benzos” and smoked joints that night and that he didn’t remember much about what happened, including who had driven the car into the door.

Suspending two years of a three-year jail term, Judge Hogan said the behaviour “boggled the mind” and was quite serious considering the amount of damage caused.

In a separate matter, Ring also pleaded guilty to unauthorised use of a vehicle at Greenhills, Dublin 12, on October 19, 2013, for which he received a suspended one-year jail term.

Declan Conlon and Declan Brennan