Kildare man fined €300 for using found bank card at Carlow pub
A 23-year-old from Castledermot pleaded guilty to three thefts after using a found bank card to buy drinks at Dinn Rí bar. Carlow District Court fined him €300.
Kildare man convicted after using stranger's bank card during night out in Carlow
A 23-year-old Kildare man has been fined €300 at Carlow District Court after using a bank card he claimed to have found on the floor of a Carlow pub to purchase drinks on three separate occasions, kildare-nationalist.ie reports.
Dara Byrne, with an address at Almerstown, Castledermot, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001 before Judge Geraldine Carthy.
Inspector Jones told the court that on 5 April 2025, gardaí received reports of three fraudulent transactions at the Terrace Bar, Dinn Rí, in Carlow town. CCTV footage allowed officers to identify Byrne as the suspect.
Byrne subsequently admitted to gardaí that he had found the bank card on the floor of the pub earlier that day while heavily intoxicated, and used it to buy drinks on three occasions. The total value of the transactions was €49.
Defence solicitor Tertius Van Eeden told the court that Byrne had been on a "bender" at Dinn Rí when he found the card, which belonged to someone he knew. Van Eeden said his client made full admissions to gardaí, returned the card to the injured party, and had since compensated them.
Byrne carries one previous conviction, dated 17 May 2024, for drunk-driving. Van Eeden told the court his client pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had brought an additional €50 to offer to the court.
"He is on the straight and narrow," Van Eeden said, adding that Byrne "has no addictions, it was just a once-off bad decision" and was "very apologetic".
Judge Carthy directed the €50 to be paid to the court poor box. She convicted Byrne and imposed a €300 fine, payable within 120 days, on one of the three charges, with the remaining two taken into consideration.
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)