Father of three jailed for possession of imitation firearm

A Dublin father of three has been sentenced to ten years in prison for possessing an imitation firearm in a stolen BMW car.

Derek McCann (28) of Walkinstown Park, Walkinstown was caught in the driver's seat of the stolen car with a fake pistol by detective gardai in his locality in the early hours of August 08, 2006.

Another man was arrested in the passenger seat of the car with a 45" calibre air pistol capable of firing blank ammunition.

Detective Garda Dermot English told prosecuting counsel, Ms Tara Burns BL, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, that arresting gardai also found a knife, black gloves and a balaclava in the car.

He agreed with defence counsel, Mr Vincent Heneghan BL, that McCann's gun was fake and his co-accused's revolver was incapable of firing live ammunition and was therefore a weapon of intimidation.

McCann was also given a one-year concurrent sentence for attempting to rob Ms Rachel Aherne in Rathmines on August 08, 2004.

Sergeant John Kelly told Ms Burns that the young woman became aware McCann was following her on Leinster Road and bent down pretending to tie her shoelace so he might overtake her.

Sgt Kelly said that when Ms Ahrens stood up, McCann was before her saying repeatedly "Give me your bag".

She managed to manoeuvre her handbag underneath the poncho shawl she was wearing and throw it behind her unbeknown to McCann.

Sgt Kelly said she indicated to McCann that she had thrown the bag in another direction and after five minutes of searching that area, he ran off.

Sgt Kelly agreed with Mr Hingham that Ms Aherne was a "strong-willed" individual and the incident hadn't impacted on her greatly.

Judge Patricia Ryan suspended the final three years of sentence and gave leave to McCann's defence team to appeal the severity of the sentence.