Accused arrived in Ireland days before €1.1m heist

A man arrived from Lithuania a couple of days before a €1.1m armed robbery took place at a Galway city jewellers, a trial heard today.

Irmantas Paulauskas, aged 38, of no fixed abode, was wrestled to the ground by detectives, assisted by members of the public, at Middle St, Galway, moments after a four-man armed gang robbed €1.1m worth of diamond rings and Rolex watches from Hartmann jewellers on William St in Galway City on the morning of February 11, 2015.

Mr Paulauskas has pleaded not guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court to the robbery of 208 diamond rings and 32 Rolex watches from Richard Hartmann. He also denies a second charge of having an imitation pistol with a silencer fitted, in his possession with intent to commit robbery on the same date.

Yesterday, Det Sgt John McElroy said he interviewed Mr Paulauskas at Galway Garda Station on three occasions after his arrest.

Mr Paulauskas maintained at all times that he had been kidnapped and refused to acknowledge he had been arrested and detained by gardaí.

He denied any involvement in the robbery and said he had arrived in Ireland “for no reason” a couple of days before on a ferry from France. He said he travelled alone and took a bus to Galway on February 11, 2015, with €35 in his pockets.

He refused to name the French port he had sailed from and said he was “just wandering around the streets in Galway” before he was kidnapped.

“I thought somebody had taken advantage of me,” he said during interview, aided by a interpreter.

He denied knowing three other Lithuanian men who were arrested with him. He was shown video footage of the robbery from inside the shop, and denied he was the man pointing a gun at staff.

In a second interview, Mr Paulauskas told gardaí he did not think they were the police.“I am imagining I am kidnapped. I will not accept I am in a police station. I was walking around and I was kidnapped. I just want to go home,” he said.

Det McElroy said he asked Mr Paulauskas if people in Lithuania had promised him €20,000 to carry out the robbery. “I was promised nothing,” he had replied.

Mr Paulauskas also denied travelling from Denmark in a van, a week before the robbery took place.

His clothes were taken from him after his arrest, but he denied they were his when they were later shown to him at the garda station.

Bernard Madden, defending, said his client would not be giving evidence.

Closing speeches in the trial will commence today.