A woman has been sentenced to 14 months in jail for a burglary at the home of double All-Ireland winning Clare hurling captain Anthony Daly.
At Kilrush District Court on Tuesday, Insp Tom Kennedy said the former Dublin hurling manager and two of his daughters were at home in Tullycrine in west Clare on October 5th, 2016 at around 10pm when mother-of-one Stacey Massey (30) and a male accomplice entered the home's utility room and kitchen.
Insp Kennedy said Mr Daly was unaware of the burglars’ presence until his wife, Eilish, and teenage daughter arrived home and saw the burglars fleeing from the back of the house.
Gardaí were alerted and Ms Massey – of McGarry House, Alphonsus Street, Limerick – and her accomplice were apprehended in scrub area near the Daly home. The man had €50 and a gift voucher that was a birthday present for one of the Daly girls.
Just an hour earlier, Ms Massey and her male companion had been released from Garda custody at Kilrush Garda Station having been processed in relation to abandoning a crashed car near the village of Lissyasey. They had been arrested by gardaí after a search of nearby fields.
Gardaí dropped off the two at Kilrush town centre to catch the bus to Limerick, but the two missed the bus and made their way to Tullycrine.
Judge Durcan said that the Dalys didn’t want to come to court to give victim impact evidence, “but that doesn’t mean that there are not victims, that doesn’t mean that these are hard and seasoned people who are not upset by this”.
Judge Durcan sentenced Ms Massey to 14 months in total for the two offences of burglary and abandoning the car, suspending the final three months.
The male in the case was jailed for his role in the crime last October.
Judge Durcan also disqualified Ms Massey from driving for six years.
Judge Durcan said that Ms Massey has “a horrific record” and her 60 previous convictions include 14 convictions for theft and two for burglary, while she also has three drink driving convictions, three for dangerous driving and four for no insurance. Ms Massey was banned from driving at the time of the car crash last October.
