Letterkenny man with 31 previous convictions jailed on multiple charges - Donegal News

Letterkenny court jails John Sweeney

A LETTERKENNY man who has already spent two months in prison in Castlrea, appeared before Letterkenny District Court by videolink on Monday last.

John Sweeney (26), of Gort na Gréine, Letterkenny, faced multiple charges for being drunk and disorderly, theft, breach of domestic barring orders, criminal damage and assault, with offending dating back to 2019. The majority of the offences happened in Letterkenny.

Judge Emile Daly noted that Sweeney had 31 previous convictions across a range of matters, was at a high risk of re-offending, and had not engaged properly with the probation services.

Passing sentence, Judge Daly imposed ten concurrent prison terms for public order offences, with sentences of between one and two months on each count. The majority of these sentences were for being drunk and disorderly, and posing a risk to himself and others, between 2019 and 2025 in the Letterkenny area.

One of the offences happened on August 26, 2021 in Long Lane, Letterkenny. Gardaí apprehended Sweeney for being drunk, having slurred speech and being abusive. On an another occasion, on March 23, 2023, he was found drunk and disorderly and kicked a mop bucket on Long Lane.

He received sentences of between one and two months on each count of criminal damage, also to run concurrently. On one occasion the court heard how he had caused €250 of damage to a car door on April 27, 2023, at Lower Main Street, Letterkenny, and the incident was caught on CCTV.

On another occasion on June 7, 2023, at Gort na Gréine, he caused €349 of damage to a property’s wooden door.

The judge handed him down two months sentences on each of seven counts of theft, all to run concurrently. The thefts primarily related to stealing alcohol or drinking alcohol in supermarket off-licences in Letterkenny, and leaving without paying. These offences happened over the course of 2024 and 2025.

On one count of assault, Judge Daly imposed five months imprisonment, with the final two months suspended for 12 months on release.

The court heard that on February 17, 2024 at Voodoo, Letterkenny, Sweeney punched a man multiple times and gouged his eye. Conditions of the suspension of the final two months included not re-offending, not coming to the attention of the Gardaí, and engagement with the probation services, addiction services, mental health agencies and completion of a Pro Social course.

For a breach of a domestic barring order on July 15, 2024, Sweeney received three months.

Sweeney will serve three months in jail for the multitude of offences. He will appear before the Circuit Court in July on further charges.

Defending solicitor Mr Rory O’Brien told the court that Sweeney’s offending had been rooted in addiction to alcohol and benzodiazepine drugs and the breakdown of the family home during his formative teenage years.

He said Sweeney had a very difficult childhood, “acting as an adult from a very young age”, and that his offending was also linked to the state of his mental health.

Mr O’Brien said there had been a period of stability in Sweeney’s life when he had a partner and child, but that when the relationship ended he went into a downward spiral. The court heard how his offending had continued right up to April 2026.

Mr O’Brien said that Sweeney had entered a guilty plea to the summary charges that were before him and had been in custody approximately two months. He is also due to appear before the Circuit Court in July.

The former talented boxer, the court was told, is currently undergoing detox in prison, and apologised by videolink to his victims for “everything he’d done.”

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