Man jailed for burglary of elderly women's Louth hotel room

A 36 year old man, who entered the hotel room of two elderly women and stayed there for about 20 minutes, has been sentenced to eight months at Dundalk District Court.

Lawrence Mubango of No Fixed Abode was charged with burglary arising out of the incident at the Imperial Hotel, Rampart Lane, Dundalk on March 30th last.

The defendant had entered the room around 3.20am and stole €500 along with multiple items of clothing and a purse.

He was in the room for approximately 20 minutes and a previous sitting was told that some of the property was recovered.

The case had been put back for a week to establish if the elderly women wished to make victim impact statements, but Judge Nicola Andrews was told that the injured parties were uncontactable.

However, Sgt. Lisa McEntee said that voicemails had been left and they had not responded.

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The court was told the father-of-one had 92 previous convictions including theft, attempted forgery and assault causing harm for which he was given a 10 year sentence at Dublin Circuit Court.

The Defence solicitor said her client has spent a considerable time in custody and had struggled to integrate back into society following his most recent release, but she stressed that he does very well in custody and is one module away from obtaining a degree.

She added he had been unable to attend his eight year old son's First Communion, which had an impact on him.

Judge Nicola Andrews said the nature of the offence was quite troubling and when anyone checks-in they were entitled to not have someone "creep into their hotel room".

The judge added Mr Mubango has a dreadful record and she could not ignore the impact it would have had on the two elderly guests.

An eight month sentence was imposed, backdated to April 1st and at the request of the Defence, Judge Andrews fixed recognizance of €1,000 with a €500 cash lodgement in the event of an appeal being lodged.