Beggar ‘stole from OAP who tried to help’

Arrested at airport after long absence

A WOMAN accused of robbing an 85-year-old man who tried to help her has been arrested at Dublin Airport following a 20month absence from the country.

The woman was detained as soon as she arrived in Ireland on Friday and taken to Dublin District Court where the judge refused her bail.

The court previously heard that 30-year-old Rahela Bujor and a co-accused went door-to-door begging in Crumlin on December

‘None of it makes sense’

18, 2015. The resident of one house agreed to give them Christmas money and went to his kitchen to take down a canister where he kept his savings.

As he was taking it down, Bujor and her co-accused allegedly burst into the kitchen and grabbed the canister from him and made off with over €500.

A neighbour spotted them leaving hurriedly and called the gardaí. Bujor and her co-accused were charged with robbery.

A judge at Dublin District Court said at the time that he was only allowing Bujor out on bail because she had children and he wanted them to be with their mother at Christmas.

Bujor, a member of the Romanian Roma community emigrated to England before a hearing of her case in August, 2016. She missed three court dates and two bench warrants were issued for her arrest. She was immediately arrested when she arrived back in the country.

Garda Darren Coller told the court that Bujor only had two small shoulder bags with her when she arrived and was clearly not emigrating back to Ireland.

He said that he had been to her home in Clonsilla, Dublin 15, four times since her disappearance and at all times, her clothing and possessions were absent from the house.

Bujor, of Lohunda Close, Clonsilla, disputed this and said she had been back to Ireland for a short visit the previous month.

Judge Conal Gibbons said he had doubts about whether last month’s trip had really taken place. Bujor said she had to go to England in 2016 to take care of her younger brother, who is ill, cannot walk or talk, and needs surgery.

Judge Gibbons said that he did not believe a word of what he heard from Bujor and said it sounded incredible.

He said he was familiar with the British healthcare system and it was a mystery to him how Bujor could be of assistance to her brother’s surgery.

‘It’s absolutely incredible, none of it makes sense,’ he said.

The judge refused her bail. ‘I don’t think she’ll turn up in court, it’s as simple as that,’ he said, noting that there was no evidence that she had gone to England to help her brother.

‘There is no satisfactory reason why she didn’t meet the charges originally, no satisfactory reason why she didn’t contact the AGS [An Garda Síochána]. There is a huge risk that she will leave the jurisdiction again,’ he said.