Mary Coughlan "fortunate to be with two able-bodied men" when burgled

Two years ago, musician Mary Coughlan was "fortunate to be with two able-bodied men" when she interrupted a burglary at her Wicklow home, according to Judge Patrick Quinn.

The judge recently sentenced a Wicklow man, Darren Carton, to six years in prison for the burglary at the blues vocalist's home.

Carton (42), was found guilty of burglary after a seven-day court trial at Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court in December. The judge described him as a chronic drug user. The accused, was also found guilty of criminal damage to 66-year-old Coughlan's sliding door on the same day in January 2021.

Carton was acquitted of the threatening to kill or seriously injure the singer's son-in-law, Ciarán Farrelly, when he attempted to stop the accused from fleeing the scene.

During the court case, evidence was presented that the musician had been warned by her son-in-law that an intruder had a knife as she and her partner, John Kelly, arrived at their Wicklow home.

Since the singer-songwriter was not required to attend court to give evidence, she described in a witness statement how she had received the call from Mr Farrelly.

After seeing Carton leave one of the properties, Mr Kelly and Mr Farrelly, who lived in an adjoining property, tried to catch the burglar, Ms Coughlan said.

Following a brief struggle with Mr Farrelly and Mr Kelly, Carton managed to flee. Nonetheless, Mr Farrelly was able to capture a video of the intruder on his phone. Later that day, he noticed a man at a bus stop on the N11 who was wearing the same trousers and trainers as the burglar, whom he had also recorded.

During the court trial, Detective Garda David McHugh told the jury that Carton was identified from the images captured on Mr. Farrelly‘s phone. In addition, one of the accused's fingerprints was found on a parked vehicle, which he had touched while escaping from the scene.

Counsel for the DPP, James Kelly said, Mr. Farrelly provided a victim impact statement in which he detailed how the incident had a significant impact on his and Coughlan's families.

Hot Press presents Up Close & Personal with... MARY COUGHLAN at The Grand Social, Dublin.

Mr. Farrelly went on to say that after the burglary, he was "constantly on edge" and would watch everyone who passed by his house, wondering what they were doing.

He also stated that his children had trouble sleeping after hearing news reports about the house being broken into.

“The impact has been more than you can imagine on all my family,” said Mr Farrelly - adding that he had bought a dog and installed CCTV and an upgraded alarm system following the burglary. Galway native Mary Coughlan had taken similar additional security measures.

He chastised Carton for never expressing regret during the trial and stated that his family and Kilmacanogue residents were relieved when he was "gone."

Carton's lawyer, Justin McQuaide BL, stated that his client's criminal behaviour began when he was a teenager in 1995. He also mentioned that Carton had been a known drug user for much of his life. A not insignificant part of Carton's offending was related to his need for money to fund his chronic drug use, Mr McQuaide said.

Carton accepted the jury‘s verdict and agreed that Ms Coughlan would not have to appear in court to give evidence and face cross-examination.

"He lives a very lonely and isolated life as a consequence of his behaviour," Mr McQuaide said. To prevent being "in and out of prison for the rest of his life," the lawyer further said that Carton is in need of a significant residential drug treatment program.

Judge Quinn feels like there are a lot of people threatened when reading media reports of burglaries, "especially older people who live alone."

Carton was sentenced to six years in prison, with the final year suspended on the condition that he not be arrested again for 12 months after his release.

The judge said that he would have been "far more generous" if Carton had pleaded guilty to the charge.