Judge Conal Gibbons described the case as "poetic justice" but said it seems to be impossible to lock a bike on a Dublin street without it being robbed.
A judge has described as “poetic justice” the theft of a man’s bike on the morning he was to face criminal charges after he was caught by gardai with a stolen bike.
A 41-year-old Dubliner, Declan Martin was caught by gardai with a stolen bike when seen cycling one bike while pushing a second despite suffering from a medical condition as a result of a fire four years ago that left him with reduced lung capacity.
Dublin District Court was told that Martin, a father of one with an address at Markievicz House, Dublin 2, had not stolen the bike he was pushing. Instead he had taken it as “collateral” on a sum of money he was owed by a third party.
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Garda Niall Kenny gave evidence in the case, and told the court as he was leaving Pearse St garda station in Dublin’s south inner city close to Martin’s home, he saw the accused cycling his bike and pushing the other alongside him.
He said the situation pricked his curiosity and on asking Martin some questions about where he was going, he became suspicious the Dubliner did not own both bikes.
The accused told Garda Kenny he had paid €40 for the bike on O’Connell St; with the court also hearing it was worth €1,000 new.
When Garda Kenny made his own inquiries, he established the bike had been stolen while locked on O’Connell St on the last week in March.
The date of the theft was just one week before Martin was stopped with the two bikes and questioned on April 1st.
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Martin said he had loaned €40 to a man he knew and had taken the bike from him as a form of security on the loan.
"He accepts it was very reckless," his lawyer told Judge Conal Gibbons.
"It is nigh on impossible to protect a pushbike in Dublin," Judge Gibbons said.
"It's a shocking state of affairs that you can't leave a bike by the side of the road in Dublin. You have to wrap it up in chains and even a bike that was secured in this way was still stolen by somebody and delivered to the accused."
At that point, the accused man said: "My own one was stolen this morning.”
The judge replied: "You have often heard of the expression poetic justice. There is a touch of poetic justice in this."
He then imposed an eight-month sentence on Martin but suspended it for a year, meaning he will not serve any time in prison if he does not come before the courts or come to the attention of the gardai again for the next year.
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