Nine men appear in court after the looting of two supermarkets
NINE men appeared at a special court sitting after the looting of two supermarkets in south Dublin on Friday night.
The men appeared in the Courts of Criminal Justice on Saturday morning after a Lidl store on Fortunestown Lane in Tallaght was raided and looted and a Centra, also in Tallaght, was broken into.
Six men were charged in connection with the incidents at Lidl. John Kelly (48), from Allen Hall in Tallaght, is accused of handling stolen property, namely a safe.
Pouilas Gueizecius (20), from St Mochtas Drive in Clonsilla, north Dublin, is accused of burglary and possession of stolen property.
Paul Freeman, of Russell Green in Tallaght, and Keith Kelly, from Suncroft Park in Tallaght, are accused of trespass at Lidl.
Two other men, Edgar Cesynas, of Silken in Citywest, and Gerard Buggle, from Macuilmaim, Tallaght, are charged with theft at Lidl.
The court heard that John Kelly, who was arrested at 9.25pm on Friday night at Ardmore Avenue, was a widower, whose wife died in December of cancer and that he looks after a number of children.
He was released on bail. Keith Kelly was arrested at 9.10pm on Friday on Fortunestown Lane. The court was told that he is unemployed because of a back injury and receives €191 a week in disability allowance.
The solicitor for Mr Kelly, Cahir O’Higgins, asked that CCTV in the case be sought out and conserved.
Paul Freeman, who was also arrested at Fortunestown Lane, was also released on bail to reappear before the court on April 12.
A further three men were charged in connection with the alleged offences at the Centra store.
They include Mohammad Smeu (25), from Milners Square in Santry.
He is accused of burglary and possession of a weapon – a sledgehammer.
John Doyle (37), from Russell Walk, Russell Square, Tallaght, and David Bernie (36), of Suncroft Park, Tallaght, are also charged with burglary.
The court heard that gardaí were called to the Centra store on Friday night shortly after 8pm. They found that the front door and shutters had been smashed in. The cash register
and the cigarette machine had both been opened.
The court heard that Mr Smeu, a student with an address on the city’s northside, was stranded on that side of the city “due to snow”.
John Doyle, a father of four with a baby who is being christened next week, was described as a settled family man.
Davie Bernie, who is currently unemployed but minds his baby with his partner, told the judge: “CCTV will vindicate us.
“We are not the ones who broke into that shop and CCTV will prove that.”