A man who bounded a 6ft wall to escape from custody has been jailed for two years and six months.
Michael McGinley (20) had been refused bail at Balbriggan District Court on April 23rd last year after he appeared on a charge of unlawful possession of a car stolen from Co Kerry.
The defendant was remanded into custody and taken to Balbriggan Garda station.
McGinley, who has more than 60 previous convictions, asked to be taken out for a cigarette. Two gardaí accompanied him to the station’s rear yard.
Gda Eoin O’Reilly told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this car park area had a 6ft perimeter wall and an electronic security gate and was where prisoners were normally brought for cigarettes. The court heard McGinley was not handcuffed and there was an element of trust.
When it came time to leave the yard, one garda turned her back to open the security gate and McGinley ran at speed towards the yard wall. He cleared the wall on his first attempt, Gda O’Reilly said.
Despite gardaí pursuing him in a patrol car alongside an air support unit, McGinley could not be located. He turned up two months later while staying at an AirBnB in Athboy, Co Meath.
A garda arrested him on June 19th last year and McGinley was charged with escape from lawful custody. He has been in custody since.
McGinley, of Ringfort Avenue, Balrothery, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody.
He also pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a vehicle without the consent of the owner on April 21st last year.
The court heard how the owner had parked the car at his home in Co Kerry and went to bed.
He woke up the next day to find the car gone. A number of days later, gardaí on patrol in Balbriggan saw McGinley driving the stolen car and arrested him at his home.
He has previous convictions for burglary, theft and taking a car without the consent of the owner. He was aged 19 at the time of these offences.
Gda O’Reilly agreed with Luke O’Higgins, defending, that his client’s escape attempt was unplanned and opportunistic. He also accepted McGinley did not use any violence or make any threats during the escape.
O’Higgins told the court his client was “genuinely remorseful” about his actions. He said McGinley left school at 14 and began taking drugs and building up drug debts with led to committing crimes to pay these off.
Imposing sentence on Friday, Judge Orla Crowe said McGinley’s escape from lawful custody was not planned or sophisticated, but he managed to hide for a significant period of time before he was apprehended.
She said McGinley was “very young” and there “must be some hope for him in relation to rehabilitation”.
She imposed a sentence of three years with the final six months suspended on strict conditions and she backdated the sentence to June 19th last year when he went into custody.
