Man sentenced for smashing windows of Mayo public house

A WESTPORT man already serving time in prison has received an additional sentence after pleading guilty to criminal damage at a local bar.

Thomas Collins, of St. Mary’s Villa, Westport, appeared before Judge Vincent Deane at Castlebar District Court.

Sergeant Fiona Farrell told the court that at 11.23 p.m. on January 16, 2026, gardaí received a report of windows being smashed at Lofty's Bar.

Collins was identified on CCTV picking up an empty beer barrel and using it to smash the windows. People were inside the premises at the time.

Collins has 48 previous convictions. He pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal damage.

Defence solicitor Dermot Morahan told Judge Deane that Collins, aged 34, was the second of seven children and had been in a relationship for the past four years. He has two children, aged 15 and two.

Mr. Morahan said a comprehensive probation report had been prepared, which noted Collins was at high risk of reoffending and identified a clear link between substance use and his offending behaviour, a pattern known since his late teens.

He said Collins had engaged with one-to-one addiction counselling and a community mental health team, and that things had been calm for a period until a recent relapse into alcohol misuse.

Mr. Morahan asked the court to be as lenient as possible in the circumstances.

Judge Deane imposed a three-month sentence to run consecutively to a five-month sentence Collins had received on April 15.

* Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.