Addict who robbed €10,000 given five years

A Finglas heroin addict has been jailed for five years for robbing €10,000 cash from a betting agent clerk as she walked to the bank.

Judge Frank O’Donnell said in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he had "no hesitation" in sentencing Kevin Penrose, who was released from another five-year robbery sentence prior to this latest offence on May 26, 2008.

Penrose (aged 33) of Casement Road, Finglas West, pleaded guilty to the robbery on Howth Road, Raheny.

Garda Barry Malone told prosecution counsel, Ms Cathleen Noctor BL, that the Paddy Power Bookmaker employee had €10,000 in a plastic bag in the top left pocket of her jacket and €1,000 of loose €50 notes in her other pocket as she walked to the bank across the road from her work.

She reached the footpath when Penrose ran at her, grabbed her jacket lapels with his hands and demanded she give him the money.

The woman slapped the father-of-five but fell backwards and landed on the ground on top of another pedestrian.

Gda Malone said Penrose put his hands under the clerk’s jacket as she lay on her back and snatched the plastic bag containing €10,000.

He ran off without noticing the €1,000 of loose notes in the clerk’s right hand, but was tackled to the ground by a civilian a short distance away.

Four men pinned the robber on the ground until gardaí arrived and these men gave similar statements about Penrose appearing to communicate with a motorbike rider near the scene.

Gda Malone told Ms Noctor that this motorbike rider was seen getting into a car which drove off moments after the incident.

He said Penrose, who suffers from Hepatitis C, denied the robbery when he was interviewed at Raheny Garda Station and said he’d been out for a walk that day.

Judge O’Donnell remarked that this was a "well-planned attack" on a woman who had to take seven weeks off work to recover from her ordeal.