McDonald’s bomb threat man ‘was having breakdown’
A MAN threatened to blow up a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Dublin, telling staff that he had a bomb in his bag that would go off if they did not open the till.
Raymond Dicker (47) left the restaurant empty-handed after the owner saw the bag he was carrying was full of meat.
The perpetrator was caught shortly afterwards when gardaí found him sitting at a bus stop across the road.
Arrested
Dublin District Court heard that Dicker, a father of two, claimed to be having a “breakdown” at the time and wanted to get arrested.
Judge Kathryn Hutton applied the Probation Act, leaving him without a criminal record.
Dicker, from Railway Close, Clongriffin, pleaded guilty to burglary at McDonald’s in Donaghmede.
Garda Lisa Murray said the accused went to the restaurant at 2pm on April 6.
Dicker walked behind the counter and approached a wom- an who was working there. He then said: “Open the till or the bag will blow up.”
The owner was also present and Dicker told him to open the till, but he refused.
“[Dicker] said he had a bomb in the bag and the bag would blow up,” Gda Murray said. “He repeated that a number of times.”
The owner looked at the bag and saw that it contained meat.
He called gardaí and the accused left.
When gardaí arrived, the owner was able to point Dicker out to them, as he was sitting across from the McDonald’s at a bus stop.
He had nine previous con- victions, but they were all for motoring offences, the last of which dated back to 2009.
The incident was out of character for the accused and there was a “wider context” to what happened on the day, Dicker’s barrister said.
He was not motivated by financial gain and nothing was stolen.
At the time, he was under “significant pressure”, was suffering from depression and “what can only be described as a breakdown during that time”, the barrister said.
“He was seeking to be arrested that day because he was in desperate need of assistance in terms of his mental health,” he said.
Gda Murray said she was not aware of this. But she added that the accused had been under the influence of alcohol at the time.
Dicker’s barrister said she did not have any medical reports to support her submissions but could get some if needed.
“Given what you have told me, I will apply Section 1.1 of the Probation Act,” Judge Hutton told her.