Five years for man who robbed bookie's armed with samurai sword

A cocaine-addicted father-of-one who robbed a bookmaker's armed with a small samurai sword has been sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Katherine Delahunt.

Ian Bradley (aged 26) of Sheepmore Lawn, Blanchardstown, was also involved in a house break-in where the burglars stopped their getaway car to ask a security guard for directions to the N4 having seconds earlier thrown a handbag from the vehicle.

The thieves were stopped on the N4 within minutes by gardai and all the items were recovered. Bradley initially gave gardaí a false name but later made full admissions.

A neighbour of the homeowners called gardaí when he saw a number of men acting suspiciously. The family were woken up by the burglars and watched them from an upstairs window as they left their house.

Bradley initially denied the bookmakers robbery but later said he had been using cocaine, needed more drugs and carried out the raid in order to get the money to feed his habit.

He claimed that his co-accused, who had acted as a lookout during the robbery, had approached him and asked him to get involved.

Bradley pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery of €2,000 in cash from Boyle Sports in Hartstown Shopping Centre, in Blanchardstown, allowing himself to be carried on a stolen motorbike and producing a knife on July 22, 2007. He also admitted to burglary at the house in Lucan on May 13, 2008.

His 49 previous convictions included a three year prison sentence for possession of a firearm.

Judge Delahunt accepted that Bradley had not been physically violent with anyone in the offences but said that victim impact reports before the court indicated that his crimes had had a traumatic affect.

She accepted that he had shown remorse for his actions and evidence that Bradley was easily led but added that he had been the main protagonist in the robbery before she suspended the last 12 months of the sentence on strict conditions.

Detective Garda Jim McDevitt told Mr Garnet Orange BL, prosecuting, that Bradley demanded money from the staff while there were customers in the shop. He was allowed in behind the counter in order to keep the patrons safe, where he robbed all the money from the tills.

He left the shop after it became obvious that he would not get access to the safe. The staff later described the weapon as either a knife or a small samurai sword.

Det. Gda McDevitt said that Bradley was nominated as a suspect through CCTV footage by a local community garda even though he had been wearing a motorbike helmet at the time.

Bradley later admitted that a stolen motorbike had been used as the getaway vehicle in the raid and indicated to gardai where they could find it.

Det. Gda McDevitt agreed with Mr Luan Ó Braonáin SC (with Ms Martina Baxter BL), defending, that Bradley was "easily dragged into trouble" before he added that he believed that the accused did not think about things before he acted and "went along with others".

He further accepted that the prosecuting garda in the earlier firearm offence was satisfied that Bradley’s possession of the weapon "was not gangland associated" rather he had acquired it after seven shots had been fired at his house.

Mr O Braonain said that his client and his accomplices had been "extraordinarily stupid" asking for directions having just thrown a handbag from the vehicle.

He asked Judge Delahunt to accept that his client had "little cop on" but that he had showed "a level of responsibility" by co-operating with the gardai investigations and pleading guilty to all the charges.

Mr Ó Braonáin said that his client had been in a relationship for over three years and the couple had a one-year-old daughter.

"Drink that was a problem in his teenage years is no longer a problem," Mr O Braonain said before he added that Bradley had not used drugs since his remand in custody last May.