A 39-year-old Romanian man has been sentenced to three years in prison for handling statues and other religious ornaments which were stolen from graves in Co Galway four years ago.
Marian Lingurar, with an address in Loughgeorge in Claregalway, pleaded not guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court during a two-day trial.
The jury was instructed to return not guilty verdicts on three of the 11 charges due to lack of evidence.
Lingurar was found guilty on eight other charges.
Garda Patricia Grady told the sentence hearing that items had been stolen from the graves of babies, children and young people who had died in tragic circumstances.
Several items were recovered from Lingurar's house.
Two of the larger statues stolen had been taken out of grottos in Kiltrogue and Oranmore.
Judge Rory McCabe said this had been a "mean, nasty and upsetting series of thefts", before imposing a three-year sentence on each of the eight charges before the court.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Lingurar is currently serving a four-year sentence which is due to expire in November 2017.
Judge McCabe directed the three-year sentence he was imposing be back-dated to 13 November, the date Lingurar was found guilty.
