Addict gets seven years for church robbery

A chronic drug addict who walked into a Dublin chapel and robbed the collection money at syringe point from a priest has received a seven-year sentence for this and other crimes.

Francis McGrane (aged 39) broke down in front of gardaí when he admitted holding the needle in front of Fr Jaroslaw Mastievicz in Saint Audeon’s Church while “strung out” on cocaine.

Garda Stephen Daly revealed that McGrane left the church with €150 in notes and coins from the cash box stuffed in his pockets.

McGrane, a father-of-two of Blackhorse Grove, Cabra, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to aggravated burglary at the church on June 26, 2009, to robbing a woman’s handbag at Parkgate Street on January 4, 2009 and to burgling an elderly woman’s sheltered accommodation at Hudson Road, Glasthule, Dun Laoghaire on July 25, 2009.

He has 42 previous convictions, including two robberies, six aggravated burglaries, four assaults and a number of theft related offences and he was on bail for the handbag robbery when he trespassed on the elderly woman’s premises.

Gda Daly told Mr Cormac Quinn BL, prosecuting, that Fr Mastievicz had been alone in the church when he spotted McGrane at the door and decided to go into the sacristy.

The priest returned minutes later thinking the man had gone, but was confronted by McGrane wielding a syringe.

Gda Daly said McGrane filled his pockets with €150 in notes and coins from the cash box and then demanded to see the contents of the church safe. Fr Mastievicz fled outside as McGrane turned his attention to the safe and found it empty.

Gda Daly said the victim has since forgiven McGrane, even though the incident left him afraid of being in church alone for weeks.

Gda Daly said he and a colleague arrested McGrane at his home two months after the offence having nominated him as a suspect from CCTV around the church.

McGrane, whose fingerprints matched those found on the church’s cash box, made full admissions in interview, expressed remorse and explained he had gone into town that day “strung out” on cocaine and looking for money to buy his next fix.

Gda Daly agreed with Mr Pieter Le Vert BL, defending, that his client had given gardaí no trouble on arrest and was visibly upset when admitting his offence.

Garda Charlie Dempsey told Mr Quinn that McGrane walked in through the open kitchen door of a 63-year-old woman’s sheltered accommodation at Glasthule, Dun Laoghaire on July 25, 2009, told her he was HIV positive and asked her for a “fiver”.

Gda Dempsey revealed that the lady had come home from a walk and left her door open to let in air while she napped in the kitchen. McGrane opened the woman’s presses and took around seven gold and silver rings from a jewellery box, which he later admitted selling for drugs. These rings were worth little but were of sentimental value to the woman.

He found nothing in the woman’s wallet, asked her for two cigarettes and a cup of tea and shook her hand as he left her premises.

Garda Damien McCormack told Mr Quinn that McGrane robbed a woman of her handbag as she walked from Heuston Station toward Parkgate Street wheeling her suitcase. The garda agreed with Mr Le Vert that McGrane had had no physical contact with his victim and had caused gardaí no difficulty when he was arrested shortly after.

Counsel submitted that McGrane had made efforts to rehabilitate himself around the time his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer but had relapsed after his death.

Judge Delahunt noted the crimes were “vicious and threatening” to the victims and that McGrane had a significant history of violent crimes.

She gave McGrane two years for the handbag robbery to run concurrently with three years for the aggravated church burglary but consecutive to a five-year sentence for burgling the elderly woman’s home.

The judge acknowledged McGrane’s genuine remorse for his actions and suspended the final two years of the consecutive five-year sentence.