‘I’ll never use an ATM again’

A 68-year-old woman said she would never again take cash from an ATM after a man knocked her down and robbed her, leaving her with a fractured hip.

Detective Sergeant Tim Murphy said that, despite what she suffered, the victim told him before he gave evidence against Carsten Mielke, 43, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to go easy.

“Don’t go too hard on him, he wasn’t very good at what he was doing,” the pensioner told the detective.

Mielke, who now lives with the Simon community in Cork, pleaded guilty to robbing €20 from the woman at 9.30am on September 7, 2012.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin remanded Mielke in custody until Feb 27 for a probation report on what could be done to deal with his drink problem and get him into sheltered accommodation.