Man jailed after theft of diesel from Letterkenny service station

A man who stole €20 worth of diesel from a Letterkenny service station has been sentenced to three months imprisonment.

Derek Matha, a 30-year-old whose address was given as Wheatfield Prison, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the offence.

Matha appeared at Letterkenny District Court via video link.

The court heard that on 21 February, 2020 Matha put €20 of fuel into a black Toyota Avensis at the Applegreen service station at Killylastin, Letterkenny.

Sergeant Gerard Dalton said Matha entered the shop and told an employee that he had no money on him, but that he intended to return to pay. Matha left and did not return.

Matha was identified using CCTV footage from the shop.

Matha has a number of previous convictions and is currently serving a prison sentence.

Solicitor for Matha, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said his client was a 30-year-old separated man.

“He left the scene and didn’t come back,” Mr Gallagher said. “A situation happened at his own house and it slipped his mind.”

Judge Deirdre Gearty said Matha had ‘much bigger fish to fry’ and he clearly had no means to pay for the fuel.

Matha was sentenced to three months in prison with the sentence backdated to December 2020.