Six years for robbery at betting shop
LONE RAIDER HAD KNIFE AND MADE OFF WITH €235 FROM OFFICE
A six-year prison term has been handed to a man who carried out a knife robbery in a Dundalk betting office.
At the circuit criminal court last Thursday, Keith Hughes (25) was sentenced after having been previously found guilty by a jury of two charges arising out of an incident which occurred in Bar One Racing, Bridge Street, more than a year ago.
The defendant, of Oakland Park, Dundalk, had denied robbing €235 from the shop on the morning of 22 May, 2015, and a further charge of possession of a knife.
A jury of seven men and five women took less than 90 minutes to return unanimous guilty verdicts in respect of each count after viewing CCTV coverage of the incident.
In court last week, Hughes’s barrister said his client does not accept the jury’s verdict.
Judge Leonie Reynolds also heard that the manager on duty in the betting shop that day left his job because he no longer felt safe.
During a three-day trial, evidence was given that the accused acted alone when he entered the premises shortly after 10am, with the hood of his top up.
He produced a knife, which was described as being like a bread knife, with a six- to eightinch blade.
One witness told of seeing a man hold a knife over the manager’s head and neck area.
The manager said the man holding it was shouting for money and lunged over towards the counter and grabbed about €240 in cash.
The raider then left through the front door, onto the street, and the whole thing lasted less than two minutes.
Keith Hughes was arrested on suspicion of robbery in the Pearse Park area that afternoon.
During an interview, he told gardai, he does not gamble and was not sure where the bookies is.
After he was shown CCTV footage of the robbery, Hughes said he didn’t know the person in it.
At the sentence hearing, the manager’s victim impact statement was read into the record.
He said he was in complete shock, and had a clear view of the knife. They took the rest of the day off.
The man added he was always worried as the accused was local and he feared repercussions.
He was working there for nine or 10 months at the time, but in April, 2016, left the job.
‘ There were a few reasons. One was the way the job had gone. It was not Bar One’s fault. They were good to me.
‘ The job is not safe. It was a stressful time. I’m happy it’s finished.’
Garda Niall Smyth gave evidence of previous convictions against Hughes, which include three for robbery, and 29 for burglary.
He was also convicted of an assault, committed while in custody.
Gda Smyth added Hughes has spent most of his teenage and adult years in custody.
He is single, living at home, and never worked. There were only short periods between incarcerations.
Barrister Jim McCullough said at the outset of his submission that his client does not accept the verdict of the jury.
One of Hughes’s two sisters died in a traffic accident in 2000, when he was aged nine. She was his carer.
He has had no contact with his father, and left school at 12.
Hughes has more or less been continuously in custody since he was 15.
He was a talented soccer player with Redeemer FC locally and St Francis in Dublin, and was scouted by clubs at 16 while in Oberstown House detention centre, but he absconded, and so ended his chances.
Mr McCullough continued that incarceration doesn’t work with regard to this man.
He has been in custody on this matter since 22 May, 2015, when he was arrested.
Judge Reynolds imposed a six-year sentence. However, in view of his age now, she said she would give Keith Hughes some light at the end of the tunnel.
The final 12 months were suspended on condition he be of good behaviour for his period of incarceration, and remain under the supervision of the probation service.
That portion of the sentence was suspended for two years.
The judge remarked it must have been terrifying for the victims.