it’s friday! MORE BAIL MADNESS
Days ago we highlighted how 60 crimes a day are being committed by people on bail: now we reveal that the serial thug who robbed €15,000 from a vulnerable man was on bail for THREE knife offences
A CAREER criminal who was out on bail for three different knife offences terrorised a 65-year-old man in his quiet, respectable home, forcing him to hand over €16,200.
The humiliating 12-hour ordeal suffered by the man – known to be generous but vulnerable – began at 10.30pm on Tuesday night.
The balaclava-clad criminal and his female accomplice used a hammer to smash a downstairs window at the house in Terenure, south Dublin, where the
victim lived alone. Once inside, they woke him while he slept in an upstairs bedroom, dragged him from his bed and then repeatedly threatened him with the hammer.
After enduring one terrible hour of terror, in which he also suffered injuries to his face, the victim was forced to accompany the pair to an ATM at the Walkinstown roundabout before midnight on Tuesday night. There, they made him withdrew €600, the daily limit, and hand it over to his captors.
However, his overnight ordeal had only just begun. They held him captive for several more hours and, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, ‘marched him up’ to the same ATM and forced him to take out another €600. Because it was after midnight, he could withdraw another daily limit.
His ordeal continued for several hours until 10am, when they forced him into a car and drove him to an AIB branch in Rathgar, ordering him to withdraw €15,000 in cash. There, the woman went into the bank with him, making sure he would remain too terrified to alert staff. However, staff told him the branch didn’t have €15,000 in cash to hand over, and that he’d have to come back in an hour.
When he returned, the woman was still with him and he was given the cash, which he then handed over to his captors, who fled in the car they had used to travel to the bank. In total, they stole €16,200 from their victim.
However, it is understood that the gardaí have CCTV footage of the car near the bank, and that the vehicle has since been found – while the main suspect and his alleged accomplice have since been arrested.
This callous crime comes after the Irish Daily Mail has repeatedly highlighted a series of shocking instances of brutal attacks and robberies carried out by offenders who were freed on bail.
And earlier this week, it emerged that more than 300,000 crimes have been committed in the past 13 years by criminals who were out on bail. The wave of repeat offending, which works out at almost 2,000 crimes committed per month, or an astonishing 63 a day, was revealed in an RTÉ Investigates programme on Monday night, just 24 hours before the latest victim’s ordeal began.
Sources say the victim is ‘extremely shocked’ and was last night being cared for by relatives.
Locals are appalled at what unfolded, particularly as the man’s home is in a private complex that can only be accessed by a PIN number panel at the gate.
They called for increased Garda patrols in the area, for the safety and wellbeing of the local community in the winter months.
The victim was considered vulnerable and was known in the past to allow ‘ne’er-do-wells’ to move into his home free of charge for weeks on end.
Because of his ‘kind and giving nature’, he was ‘preyed upon and taken advantage of by criminals’, said a source. They said: ‘This was not a random robbery. These two individuals knew this man has access to large sums of money and he was deliberately targeted.’
Local sources say the victim came into a large sum of money following a serious road traffic incident a number of years ago. The criminals who targeted him were privy to this information.
It was the victim’s family who reported the aggravated burglary to gardaí, who immediately launched a major investigation at Terenure Garda Station.
And, based on information they obtained, they established the name and address of the male suspect. Officers then raided a house in Inchicore, Dublin 8, late on Wednesday night.
The suspect – along with a woman, believed to have been his partner in the shocking crime – were both arrested. They both aged in their 20s. It is understood that around €12,000 in cash, believed to have been stolen from the victim, was recovered.
The male suspect, originally from the Dublin 8 area, is ‘extremely well known’ to gardaí and has more than 25 convictions, it is understood.
He is a known crack cocaine addict and considered a ‘volatile criminal’ who has served a lengthy prison sentence for a shocking car-jacking in north Dublin in which he used an imitation firearm to terrify the female driver – and caused a major Garda chase and crash. The woman, who was attempting to de-ice her car, had the weapon pointed directly at her and was in fear of her life.
The criminal’s convictions include threatening and abusive behaviour, theft, and obstructing gardaí.
Shockingly, the man – whose drug addiction is described as ‘severe’ – was out on bail at the time of the latest incident, for three offences involving knives within a four-month period.
He was allegedly caught with a concealed knife on three separate occasions in Dublin city centre, charged, but then bailed twice in July and once in October. He is due in court in the coming months in connection with these charges.
A source said: ‘This young man is well-known and considered violent and dangerous to gardaí in the city centre and his native Dublin 8. He carries knives because he is an opportunistic and violent criminal who would pull a weapon on anyone in order to rob and steal, with no regard for anyone else’s personal safety.’
The woman in custody also has numerous convictions and is a well-known criminal, it is understood. Gardaí said that a man and a woman were arrested in connection with the investigation, and were detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. Comment – Page 14 ali.bracken@dailymail.ie