Corkman accused of post office raids to fund US trip to visit fiancee further remanded in custody

Accused is charged with robbery of South Douglas Road Post Office on November 11, attempted robbery of the same premises on November 18 and robbery of Ballintemple Post Office on November 16. Picture: Denis Minihane.

A man accused of carrying out three post office raids to get money to travel to America to meet his fiancee spent the holiday period in jail and now he has been remanded in custody for a further four weeks.

Fintan Tindley, of Loughmahon Avenue, Mahon, Cork, appeared again at Cork District Court by video link from prison, where he consented to being remanded in custody for a four-week period.

Sergeant Gearóid Davis said directions were still not available from the Director of Public Prosecutions in the cases against Tindley.

The accused is in custody with consent to High Court bail but the conditions include a €5,000 surety and cash bail of €500 and so far that has not been raised.

Tindley, who was employed as a HSE homecare assistant, is charged with robbery of South Douglas Road Post Office on November 11, attempted robbery of the same premises on November 18 and robbery of Ballintemple Post Office on November 16.

Detective Garda Kevin Motherway said at the original bail hearing it was alleged the accused entered the South Douglas Road post office wearing a hat and mask and that he caught a 77-year-old man who was a customer and put a knife to his throat as he made a demand for money from behind the counter. He got away with €2,380.

In Ballintemple, he entered the post office with a similar concealment of his identity and grabbed a 44-year-old woman and put a knife to her throat and demanded money from staff before making off with €1,300.

In the third alleged incident on the South Douglas Road, a 44-year-old woman was grabbed and but he ended up running away empty-handed when a panic alarm was triggered.

One of the grounds for the prosecution objecting to bail was the allegation he was a flight risk as he had travelled to the United States twice this year to meet up with a woman he met online and to whom he had become engaged and was planning to visit again. The detective said the accused told them he was “desperate to travel again to the United States to meet her”.

Daithí Ó Donnabháin, defence solicitor, said the accused had no previous convictions of any kind.

The defendant’s case was put back until February 1.