A former Garda has been jailed for seven months for breaking into a colleague’s locker and stealing $43 cash from a lunch box.
aul Arkins, 33, was a serving member of the Corps and under “severe stress” after a breakup when he took the money, a court heard.
Judge Bryan Smyth convicted him, saying it was a “serious breach of trust” and that Arkins had been convicted of assault and trespass.
Arkins, who has since resigned from An Garda Síochána, pleaded guilty to theft and criminal damage to a safety deposit box at Swords Garda Station, Dublin, on April 11, 2019.
The Dublin District Court heard that he took €43 from a lunch box in the locker and after an investigation, matching fingerprints were found.
Arkins, of Portland Row in Dublin’s inner city, filed his plea last month and the case returned to Judge Smyth for a victim statement.
The court also received testimony from the defense and letters from a football club, a youth club, a doctor and the mother of the accused.
Arkins resigned from the police force last September and was now a college student who had to retrain in sports and fitness, attorney Donal Pattison said defensively.
The thief suffered from fears, was taking medication for this and was under “severe stress and pressure” at the time of the crime, the court heard.
Judge Smyth said Arkins was given a partially suspended sentence last October for an assault in 2018, which was considered a violation.
Swords Garda Station where the theft took place
The locker break-in occurred after that incident and this was a concern for the court, Judge Smyth said.
Pattison said a “very meaningful relationship” had broken up and the accused was having a very hard time. He had enlisted the help of his GP because of the stress caused by the fracture.
Arkins had served his time before the attack and his imprisonment was a “very difficult experience for him”.
“The prospect of a custodial sentence weighs heavily on Mr Arkins’ mind and he will do everything he can to avoid that,” said Mr Pattison.
He had been awarded damages for the money and the judge said the amount should be handed over to the victim.
Judge Smyth said what happened was a “serious breach of trust” and that the victim statement set out not only the effect on the injured party “but on his colleagues”.
“Mr. Arkins hasn’t forgotten for a second,” Pattison said.
CCTV ‘manipulated’
The judge said the case warranted a prison sentence, taking into account the seven months on the theft charge, taking into account the other crime.
Earlier, Detective Garda Caitriona Beirne said the locker was technically examined after the theft and that fingerprints were taken on a number of Gardaí without a match.
Arkins refused to give his prints voluntarily, but they were taken after his arrest and a positive match was retrieved from the locker.
The suspect did not confess when he was later arrested, detained and interrogated again.
CCTV footage of the parking lot was viewed and it was believed the camera had been “tampered with”.
There was no evidence that Arkins was manipulating the CCTV, but Det Gda Beirne said he was alone in the public office where the controls were located.