A Longford man has appeared in court in connection with a series of burglaries across the town over the weekend. Edward McDonagh of Earl Street Longford was arrested on Saturday the 28th of January and appeared before Longford District Court yesterday.
Three burglaries were reported to Gardaí over the course of Friday the 27th and Saturday the 28th of January.
On the 27th of January, the Easy Smoke Future vape shop was burgled with €300, a CCTV hard drive and a large amount of vaping products taken. A day later a property on Great Water Street in the Town was entered, where a wallet including a bank card was taken, with attempts made to withdraw money from it at a near by ATM. Finally, a property in nearby Geraldine's Terrace had over €6000 worth of electronic goods stolen.
Later that day, Gardaí on patrol in the town observered Mr McDonagh acting suspicious at Springlawn Housing estate. When stopped, the defendant acted in an evasive manner according to investigating Garda Buckley. On being searched, Mr McDonagh was found to be in possession of a bag containing multiple vape products matching those taken from the shop, as well as the electronics identified as stolen from the property at Geraldine's Terrace.
Giving evidence in court yesterday, Garda Buckley told Judge Bernadette Owens that the accused had been identified at the property on Great Water Street on high quality CCTV footage. Several interruptions from Mr McDonagh were stopped by Judge Owens who informed him 'there's no point giving a running commentary.' A bail application was made by Solicitor Brid Mimnagh, but was contested by Gardaí over their concerns for re-offending.
Addressing the court, Gardaí stated it was in the 'interest and safety of the people of Longford' that the accused remain in custody. The court heard that Edward McDonagh, who has 114 previous convictions, was currently on bail from a sentencing the week previous for other burglary offences. He was remanded in Custody to appear before the court next week.
