A Somali man who 'fished' through letterboxes looking for keys at two apartment buildings will be sentenced later for burglaries and thefts.

Muhydine Adillahi (30) and three other males were captured on CCTV fishing through letterboxes shortly before breaking into a Dublin 4 apartment.

Gardaí compiled CCTV from the surrounding area which showed Adillahi stealing alcohol from a Eurospar and breaking into a vacant apartment by fishing keys from a letterbox in earlier incidents.

Garda Bryan Hunt said ]that though Adillahi denied involvement, his DNA matched that taken from a Heineken bottle left at the scene of one of the burglaries.

Adillahi, of Blackhall Square, North Brunswick Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to trespass and theft at The Poolbeg, The Gasworks, Barrow Street between July 1 and 3, 2016.

He also pleaded guilty to dishonestly appropriating a set of keys and attempted theft at a post box at the same location on July 1, 2016.

He further pleaded guilty to trespass, theft and dishonestly appropriating a set of keys at The Jessop, Charlotte Quay Dock, on July 2, 2016, and dishonestly appropriating alcohol at Eurospar, Barrow Street on July 1 and 2, 2016.

He has 18 previous convictions including burglary, theft and fraud offences.

Garda Hunt told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting, that Adillahi had four male accomplices and was the first to be sentenced for the crimes.

He said the apartment occupant at The Jessop awoke in the early hours of the morning to find three males in his home.

Adillahi was carrying the man's leather holdall and was the most verbally aggressive of the three. He left a Heineken bottle with his DNA on it as he and the other intruders made off with items worth €1,440.

Gda Hunt said he used CCTV to backtrack Adillahi's movements in the area over the previous days and uncovered the Eurospar alcohol thefts and the vacant property burglary.

The garda agreed with James Dwyer BL, defending, that Adillahi's DNA had also been found on a toothbrush at the vacant apartment. He further agreed that Adillahi had entered an early guilty plea.

Mr Dwyer said his client had spent most of his childhood at an Ethiopian refugee camp.

Judge Karen O'Connor remanded Adillahi in continuing custody and put the matter back for finalisation in November.

Irish Independent