Car mechanic sentenced for making false statements to gardaí

A Wicklow car mechanic who sourced a van which criminals later used in a 'tiger' raid has today been sentenced to 16 months for making false statements to gardaí.

Damien Cruise (aged 36) of Ballyboden Green in Carrickmines pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to failing to disclose information that would be of material assistance to gardaí in the case of the false imprisonment of a family on April 27, 2010, and to two charges of making a statement to officers that was considered time wasting at Autoworks, Bray, Wicklow, on January 5, and 14, 2010.

The court heard that a cash-in-transit van driver had been on his way to work at 5.30am on January 4 last year, when two armed men approached him and escorted him back to his home.

His mother, sister and nine-year-old niece, who were at the house, were held hostage and driven around the South Dublin and Wicklow area.

The gang stole €134,000 from a Brinks cash-in-transit van.