The court heard that the incident occurred at a private dwelling, but the injured party, who attended the court sitting, usually resides elsewhere. She had visited the house days earlier, and it was secured when she left.

When she returned on July 13, she noticed the back door had been forced in. A table was turned over, and a hall table valued between €500 and €800 was missing. Other minor items were taken, and drawers had been left open.

Gardaí recovered fingerprints at the scene, and when they checked their database, these prints matched with Mr Wilczewski’s. He has 39 previous convictions, including 13 under the fraud act. In Limerick in November 2021, he received multiple custodial sentences, totalling six months, for burglary offences between September 2020 and August 2021. Some of these occurred while he was on bail over the Listowel incident.

Defence solicitor Brendan Ahern said his client had fallen on hard times; he was out of work at the time and was not receiving social welfare. He said the property seemed clearly unoccupied to Mr Wilczewski, and he broke in as he was looking for shelter.

While there, he consumed some items and left his prints on a wine bottle.

Mr Ahern said his client was very co-operative with Gardaí, made full admissions, and pleaded guilty at an early stage, and he asked Judge David Waters to take these matters into account when deciding on a sentence. The 38-year-old man is from Poland originally and moved to Ireland with his wife, and he has four young children, Mr Ahern added.

Judge Waters convicted Mr Wilczewski and sentenced him to seven months in prison, backdated to May 19, when he pleaded guilty to the offence.