Failed robber gets five-year sentence

An "amateur robber" who made "a pathetic attempt at a serious offence" when he robbed a jewellery shop to pay off a so-called drugs debt has been given a five-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Shane Blake (aged 31), a chronic drug addict and father-of-two, dropped and lost all but two of the €12,000 worth of rings he had robbed from the jewellery shop as he tried to get into his car outside to make his get away.

When the shopkeeper hit him with a golf club he had to hand, Blake recoiled from the blow and shouted: "That's it, I'm going to shoot you now."

Blake, of Mellows Crescent, Finglas, pleaded guilty to robbing Village Jewellers, Gofton Court on March 27, 2007 with an imitation gun he claimed he bought from "an addict" for €100.

Judge Tony Hunt imposed a five-year sentence with the final two and a half years suspended for a period of four years and told Blake that if he misbehaved during that time he would serve the entire sentence.

Detective Garda John O'Hehir told prosecuting counsel Mr Colm Ó Briain BL that Blake entered the store carrying what the shop manager thought was a gun and shouted: "Where's the fucking money? Give me the money or I'll blow your fucking brains out."

Detective O'Hehir said the shop manager locked himself in a back room after hitting Blake with the golf club and being threatened by him because he feared for his life.

Blake took six trays of assorted rings worth €12,000 but dropped most of the haul in a car park. Some of these rings were recovered in that location.

Gardaí identified Blake from CCTV footage and arrested him later that day at his house, where they found him sitting in his bedroom shaking and sweating with cuts on his forehead and blood on his hands and top.

Detective O'Hehir said Blake, who spent three weeks at Blanchardstown Hospital last Christmas after a suicide attempt, was known locally as a drug addict and told gardai he robbed the shop to pay off a "drugs debt".

He agreed with defence counsel, Ms Fiona Murphy BL, that her client fully admitted his crime to gardaí and had lost all of the rings except two, which were found in the house.

Ms Murphy said Blake was "amateur robber" and had not made efforts to conceal his face during the robbery.

She told Judge Hunt that this was Blake's first serious offence in the decade he'd been abusing heroin and he apologised for his "disgraceful" actions. "With respect, it's a pathetic attempt at a serious offence."