A Romanian man who has 64 previous convictions appeared before the Circuit Criminal Court this morning.
Marian Dumitru (38), who has an address at on Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 and came to Ireland in 2014, was located by Gardaí at Merrion Gate in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 at 3:55 am on the 2nd of October 2021, after Gardaí spotted him in a silver Toyota Corolla.
Garda Lauren Lowe of Donnybrook Garda station gave evidence of how she and a colleague were on patrol in the area when she approached the car and immediately caught a “strong smell of alcohol” where she observed beer cans and an empty vodka bottle on the front seat.
Gardaí proceed to search the vehicle where they found large brown sacks containing copper piping material, which the accused claimed to have “found” on the street close to the Maldron Hotel, which the court heard was then a building site.
The court heard that the estimated value of the material was €6,000.
Dumitru was arrested after the search at 4am in relation to the drink driving issue, which was dealt with by a previous court sitting “as a summary matter”. He was conveyed to Donnybrook Garda station where he was seen by a doctor.
The court heard that while in Garda custody Dumitru “was a bit agitated”.
Gardaí subsequently made enquiries in relation to the Maldron building site and were informed by the manager of the hotel, a Mr. Brendan Foreman, that copper piping material had gone missing.
CCTV was harvested from the site from which the accused was identified as he was wearing the same clothing as when he was arrested in Donnybrook.
After he was identified in relation to the theft matter, Gardaí commenced searches for the accused who was located on Harcourt Street on the 8th of July 2022 when he was arrested in relation to a Section 12 offence.
When interviewed by Gardaí, he identified himself as the person who was seen on CCTV interfering with the Maldorn building site.
He was charged on the 8th of July 2022 and a trial date was set before an amended indictment was prepared, to which he pleaded guilty.
The accused has 64 previous convictions of which 8 relate to breaches of the Public Order Act, 13 are for fraud and theft, 1 for criminal damage, 2 for failure to appear, and 41 Road Traffic Offences including an instance of drink driving.
Dumitru’s defending counsel argued that his client had left school in Romania at the age of 15, and that he has not returned home since coming to Ireland 11 years ago.
He has two sisters, and a brother who passed away due to a workplace accident in Spain.
While in Ireland he has worked in construction, demolition, carpentry, and food production.
He is the father of 7 children who range in age from 20 years to six months old.
He is currently in receipt of social welfare and child support, the court heard.
Dumitru is “remorseful” and “concerned about the prospect” of a sentence, his counsel argued, adding that he does not have drug addiction issues and is likely to be of “good behaviour” should the court grant him a suspended sentence.
Judge Crowe addressed Dumitru’s counsel saying, “Your client has an appalling record and has offended 64 times since 2015” after coming to Ireland, she said.
She ordered a probation report to be made in respect of the accused and put the case back to the 15th of October next for sentencing.