(Pictured: Judge Martin Nolan. Credit: Collins)

A recovering crack cocaine addict with “a terrible record of convictions” has been jailed for a hold-up of a pharmacy in Dublin city centre.

Lawyers for 51-year-old Jessie O’Dwyer told Judge Martin Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that their client wanted to change his ways and deal with his addiction issues.

Judge Nolan said that it was “getting a bit late” for O’Dwyer but added that “people can change at any time”.

He said that on February 11 last year (2019) O’Dwyer threatened staff in Blackhall pharmacy on Ellis Quay, Dublin with violence and gave the impression ….read more

A convicted robber who carried out a violent mugging the day after he was released on bail has been jailed.

During the daylight robbery in Dublin city centre, Robert Kinlan (33) of Ballygall Parade, Finglas, Dublin told the victim he would “cut him” if he did not hand over his mobile phone.

Judge Melanie Greally said Kinlan had “a lamentable history” of previous convictions, including a large number of robberies.

Kinlan pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempted robbery and robbery at Cuffe Street, Dublin 2 on October 20, 2018.

Garda Brian O’Carroll told the court that Kinlan walked up to a ….read more

Insurers told a school that a €10,000 rise in insurance was due to claims from schools for thefts and criminal damage, a court has heard.

The statement by John Barry, the principal of St Michael’s secondary school in Finglas, Dublin was made at the sentencing of a woman for breaking into that school in October 2016.

After her arrest, Tara Fay (46) told gardaí that she was stealing to pay for drugs. She admitted trespassing and taking jumpers and tracksuits from the school.

Garda Paul Priestley told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that €250 in cash and a mobile phone was also taken and ….read more

A man who has committed thefts in eight European cities has been jailed for a series of stealth attacks on cash machines which caused nearly €13,000 in damage.

Damien Ionut (34) was part of a group of men who targeted ATMs in counties Louth, Kildare, Wicklow, Meath, Westmeath and Dublin. The men used a technique known as “transaction reversal fraud”, which occurs when requested cash is not properly dispensed.

Thieves then use an implement to retrieve the cash, thus damaging and shutting down the ATM. The bank account is not debited because the thieves “trick” the ATM into deciding the customer has ….read more

A construction worker has been jailed for three years for his part in a “relatively sophisticated” tax fraud scheme.

Sligo born Martin Stokes (35) was one of five people identified as having registered as contractors and stating that they would make tax payments on behalf of sub-contractors working for them.

Revenue issued nearly €107,000 in tax refunds and credits in relation to the named sub-contractors but the tax payments were never subsequently made by Stokes. Revenue issued the monies into a number of bank accounts which were controlled by another man.

This money was withdrawn at various ATMs soon after it went into ….read more

A victim of child sexual assault has said he choose to get a vasectomy because he was afraid if he had children he would not be able to protect them from predators.

The man’s victim impact statement was read out in court during the sentence hearing of his 64-year-old father, who was convicted of sexual assaulting his seven-year-old son in 1989.

During a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last month, the victim said his father had taken him swimming and then brought him home. He said he remembers his father trying to hypnotise him before sexually assaulting him.

The defendant, who cannot ….read more

A shop robber who threatened staff with a syringe over four cans of cider has been jailed for ten months after a judge remarked he was not living up to the reputation of his famous Wexford namesake of the revolutionary era.

Judge Martin Nolan today told Myles Byrne (28) that he was not living up to the reputation of his famous Wexford namesake [the revolutionary era fighter and later Brigadier General of Napoleon’s Irish Legion Myles Byrne].

The court heard the Dubliner was “out of it” when he went into the city centre Tesco shop at around 9am and tried to ….read more