Cork man in ‘Scream’ mask jailed for sweet shop robbery

A man wearing a Scream mask raided a sweet shop in Cork city and yesterday was sentenced to five years in jail with half of it suspended.

Niall Cronin, 24, of 1 Fairfield Green, Farranree, Cork, carried out a robbery of €60 at Sheila’s shop on St Mary’s Road, Cork, on October 10, 2017. He was arrested and remanded in custody until yesterday.

The second half of the sentence was suspended on the basis that he would stay away Sheila’s shop in perpetuity, Judge Brian O’Callaghan said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Detective Sergeant Kieran O’Sullivan said: “We met him in the clothes he was wearing for the crime one hour earlier. He picked up a bar passing Neptune stadium. It was amateurish.

The robbery was committed at 10.40am. There was nobody present at the time except for the 66-year-old woman working there.

When the matter first came before the court it was stated he wore a ‘Scream’ mask — based on the Edvard Munch painting popularised in horror movies of the same name — produced a large metal object and said to the shopkeeper, “Hand over the money.”

The woman managed to come out from behind the counter and get out of the shop. The raider grabbed approximately €60 from the till and then ran away.

By his own admission he was on nine bags of heroin per day at that time.

Judge Brian O’Callaghan said he accepted that it was not a premeditated attack.