A MAN WHO contacted gardaí after he saw a photograph of himself looting from a shop during the Dublin riots has been given a two-year suspended sentence.

The court heard that gardaí circulated stills from CCTV footage during a media press conference following the riots in November 2023.

In December 2024, Daniel Owie (22) contacted gardaí and said he was one of the people who stole from Foot Locker.

He was caught on footage forcing a door open before he stole €600 worth of clothing and runners.

He told gardaí he had been walking home from work that evening and saw the chaos. He said he got an “adrenaline rush” adding “unfortunately I joined in”.

Owie, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to burglary on 23 November 2023.

The court heard that gardaí published more than 160 images of people they wanted to speak to having gathered more than 17,000 hours of CCTV footage of the riots.

The court heard that during the disturbances, three buses and a LUAS were destroyed by fire, garda vehicles were damaged and 58 premises were damaged or had items of property stolen from them.

Thirteen gardaí and five members of the public were injured during the rioting, with damage totalling ten million euros caused to the city.

Garda Kim Flood told Stephen Montgomery BL, prosecuting, that footage showed intruders entering the store at 8pm that evening.

The looters run through the shop before making their way to a store room, which Owie forced open by rushing at it.

He met gardaí in January 2025 after contacting them the previous December when he saw his image had been circulated. He made full admissions.

Vanessa Frawley BL, defending, said there was “no doubt” that Owie took advantage of the situation in the city at the time but asked the court to accept that his “involvement was brief”.

She said Owie “seems to have been abandoned by his parents” and has been living in hostel accommodation.

Counsel said that her client has a total of €1,300 in court as an expression of his remorse.

Frawley asked the court to accept that there was “no evidence of violence” demonstrated by Owie.

“It was a lapse in judgement that he regrets,” Frawley submitted.

Judge Orla Crowe said it was due to the “extraordinary work” of the gardaí reviewing the CCTV footage from the night that led to the prosecution of Owie.

She acknowledged that he was not involved in the general rioting, arson or attacks on gardaí but she said he “took advantage of the chaos”.

“People have rushes of adrenalin but that does not cause them to offend,” the judge commented.

Judge Crowe acknowledged that Owie had written a letter of apology which spoke of his “remorse, shame and embarrassment”.

“I am going to give him a chance – which is not in any way to diminish what happened on the night in question,” Judge Crowe said.

She set a headline sentence of three years before she imposed a term of two years which she suspended in full on strict conditions.