Man who ‘destroyed apartment in blood’ is jailed
The defendant appeared at Athlone District Court.
A man who pleaded guilty to €500 worth of criminal damage to an apartment, as well as incurring a €100 clean-up cost for repeatedly spitting on the door of a Garda cell, has been jailed for a total of nine months.
Nathan Devaney (30), formerly of River Village, Monksland, Athlone, County Roscommon, now of no fixed abode in Athlone, appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens at a sitting of Athlone District Court where he said, “I plead guilty to everything”.
Sergeant Sheila Kenny outlined to the court that on January 8th, 2026, at 11.05 p.m., gardaí received reports of a disturbance at an O’Connell Street apartment.
When they arrived at the property, they observed a male, shouting, “with blood all over the door”. They then discovered “he’d destroyed the apartment in blood”.
There were altercations with gardaí, the court heard, and force had to be used to effect arrest. When he was detained in Athlone Garda Station, he “continuously spat on the cell door”.
Mr Devaney, who is currently serving a three-month prison sentence for theft, also pleaded guilty to a number of theft charges. Those charges include stealing €60 worth of alcohol from the Grove Filling Station, Baylough, Athlone, on July 15th, 2025; theft of €120 worth of alcohol from Tesco Express, Baylough, Athlone on November 12th, 2025; meat to the value of €60 from SuperValu, Monksland on both November 11th, 2025 and January 7th, 2026; and €70 worth of alcohol from Tesco, Golden Island Shopping Centre on January 8th, 2026.
The court previously heard from solicitor, Dara Hayden, that his client has a “poor history of mental health” and his most pressing issue is drug addiction.
Mr Devaney, addressing the court, said he was looking to start on a methadone programme.
In mitigation on the sentencing day, Mr Hayden outlined to the court that drug addiction was driving his client’s offending behaviour.
Judge Owens did note the plea to all matters, as well as the fact that Mr Devaney has “struggled in a cycle of drug offending” and the fact he has a number of relevant convictions, with some of those being committed while on bail.
“I’m doing the best I can in respect of the charges,” she remarked.
She convicted and sentence Mr Devaney to five months in prison for the theft of alcohol from Tesco, Golden Island, with a five month concurrent sentence handed down for the theft of €120 worth of alcohol from Tesco Express, Baylough.
For the €500 worth of damage to the apartment, she imposed a consecutive sentence of eight months in prison, suspending the final four months for a period of 18 months on the condition he enter an own bond of €200 and that he remain under the supervision of the probation service.
*Published under the Courts Reporting Scheme.
