Burglar suing shop he robbed is in jail for knife and ‘gun’ crime
A CONVICTED burglar who is suing a shopkeeper after injuring his scrotum during an attempted robbery has previous convictions for possession of a knife, possession of an imitation firearm and drunk driving, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Adam Wal, who is originally from Poland but has had Irish addresses in Finglas and Balbriggan, is also known to police in Poland for burglary.
Adam Wal is currently serving a 16-month sentence for possession of a knife and realistic imitation firearm in Castlerea Prison.
He was sentenced for that offence in March, 2017. Wal was also disqualified from driving and given community service in January 2017 after being caught with no insurance.
But despite this, he is suing shopkeeper Kevin Victory from Kingscourt, Co Cavan who now fears his insurance is going to skyrocket because he has a case pending. Mr Victory told the MoS he was ‘stunned’ to receive the letter. ‘He is doing a stretch in Castlerea. I don’t know what conversations he had with his solicitor, but you’d love to listen to them. It is incredible. Our insurance is probably going to be doubled because of this, even the fact that it is a pending case. If you have insurance on a car and there is a claim in, the insurance will be affected. I will probably get hit either way.’
Wal sustained a cut to his scrotum while trying to get away from gardaí after a botched raid on Centra in Kingscourt back in November 2015.
Wal is also suing the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice, the Attorney General and the State.
Mr Victory said the raiders broke into his store from the back of the premises at around midnight. The owner of a pub across the road saw the commotion and immediately rang the gardaí.
The armed response unit were on patrol nearby and the three burglars were caught red handed.
It is understood that Wal sustained the injury while trying to escape from gardaí.
He was arrested and taken to hospital. Mr Victory said there was around €3,000 in damage caused by the raiders.
‘They just left the place wrecked. That night, I cleaned it up as best I could and locked up. Everything was smashed up.’
Mr Victory said Wal seems to have no moral compass.
‘At the end of the day, it is not about me and it is not even about
‘Our insurance could be doubled’ ‘If he succeeds, it could open floodgates’
your man – it is the fact that this can go on. I am not sure where it will end up. If he won his case, sure the gardaí may as well just hang up their handcuffs.’
He said this case would set a precedent if it were to succeed.
‘It would open the prisons. How many people involved in this sort of stuff get injured in the process.
‘You never lose your constitutional rights even if you commit a crime.’
Mr Victory said the gardaí did a great job the night of the burglary, but added he ‘wouldn’t have had any of this’ if they had just gotten away with the trolley full of drink they were trying to steal.