A 36-YEAR-OLD man is to serve an 18 month prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to a trespassing incident which involved him walking in through an unlocked door and speaking a five-year-old girl who was alone in the kitchen of her family home.

Graham O’Mahony, of no fixed abode, was arraigned on the single count at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

He pleaded guilty to entering a house in Edward Walsh Road in Togher, Cork on 25 March 2020 as a trespasser in a manner that could have caused fear in another person.

Detective Sergeant Chris Cahill told the court that a mother was upstairs on the evening of 25 March 2020 when she heard the voice of a man talking to her five-year-old daughter downstairs.

She told gardaí that she immediately came downstairs and walked into the kitchen where the intruder verbally abused her before leaving.

O’Mahony fled the scene when the woman’s brother came in from the back garden.

O’Mahony has 57 previous convictions including six for assault. Detective Sergeant Cahill said the offence occurred when O’Mahony was serving a suspended sentence. O’Mahony has been in custody for in the region of a year.

Defence barrister, Paula McCarthy, said her client was a father of two from Togher in Cork who had left school at a young age. She said that O’Mahony had addiction issues but was now methadone free in custody having addressed his problems in prison.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said that O’Mahony had trespassed on a property whilst on bail saying that his behaviour was unacceptable. Taking the time served in to consideration he reimposed the 18 month suspended sentence. O’Mahony will be in jail for another 18 months.