Convicted rapist jailed for theft of more than €20,000 worth of laptops and phones

Hayes has 140 previous convictions, including one for rape from the Central Criminal Court, and two for failure to inform gardaí of a change of address under the Sex Offender’s Act

A convicted rapist, who stole more than €20,000 worth of laptops and phones from a Dublin office during a spate of burglaries, has been jailed for two years and four months.

Darren Hayes (50), with an address at a Dublin hostel, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of burglary and seven counts of criminal damage in the Baggot Street area between September 6 and October 15, 2023.

The court heard that he carried out all of the offences at old-style office premises when they were unoccupied at night. He forced the doors by kicking or barging and then proceeded to damage or burgle inside.

The premises targeted on October 15, when he was alone, included a gym, off licence, hair salon, a construction firm and doctors’ offices.

Several thousand euro worth of damage was done, mainly to doors, but the hair salon was completely ransacked with much of the equipment destroyed, and an antique desk was damaged in one of the doctor’s offices. Hayes didn’t succeed in stealing much on this occasion, but some of the businesses couldn’t open the following morning.

However, on September 6, he and another man spent an hour inside a company’s office on Haddington Road, leaving with €21,929 worth of laptops and iPhones. None of this property was recovered. The court heard that the other man was also charged but has fled the jurisdiction.

The court heard that Hayes was on bail at the time. He has 140 previous convictions, including one for rape from the Central Criminal Court, and two for failure to inform gardaí of a change of address under the Sex Offender’s Act. He is currently serving a sentence for a number of burglaries.

Luigi Rea BL, defending, said his client had a chronic drug addiction, which was aggravated in 2023 by the death of his father. He had also lost a friend, who froze to death in a tent, and Hayes was also living outside of hostels at the time.

Counsel said that he was unable to live in hostels. The court heard that his Central Criminal Court conviction made it impossible for him to secure accommodation.

Mr Rea said that it was Hayes’s intention to enter residential treatment on release from prison.

Judge Orla Crowe said that the theft of the large amount of devices and the “mindless destruction” of a hairdresser’s equipment had to be marked separately from the other burglaries.