Market seller paid €300 for stolen tools worth €6,000
Eimear Cotter - 24th March 2022
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A MARKET trader selling stolen tools worth more than €6,000 should have been suspicious when he bought them for just €300, a court heard.
Secundar Dumitru (47) was caught by the original owner, who had gone to a market in Balbriggan in north county Dublin searching for his tools after they were taken from his garden shed.
Judge Dermot Dempsey imposed a six-month sentence, suspended for two years.
The defendant, of Avondale Place in Mulhuddart, admitted possession of stolen property at the Balbriggan Market on December 1, 2019.
Garda Ciaran McQuaid told Swords District Court the injured party had a number of tools, valued at €6,000, stolen from a shed in his back garden, which had been broken into during the night.
Gda McQuaid said the injured party went to the market in Balbriggan and noticed a number of his tools for sale.
Gardaí spoke to Dumitru, who was selling the tools, and he told officers he had bought them earlier that day for €300.
Defence solicitor Fiona D’Arcy said there was no suggestion that Dumitru was involved in the burglary.
Ms D’Arcy asked the judge to be as lenient as possible, saying this incident took place some time ago and Dumitru had not come to garda attention since.
She said the defendant bought the tools for €300 and he “should have been suspicious” at the price he had paid.
The solicitor also said Dumitru was on disability benefit.