Friday, February 14, 2014
Botched getaway scuppered raid by AoiFe Nic ArdghAil
TWO DUBLIN drug addicts who couldn’t start their getaway car after robbing an Xtra-vision store have escaped jail. Derek Cunningham, 39, and Gavin Flanagan, 32, both of Fortlawn Avenue, Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the robbery on January 27, 2013. The court heard the two robbers entered wearing hats and scarves to hide their identities. Cunningham had what the cashier thought was a gun, but what was later revealed to have been a hammer wrapped in a T-shirt. The men demanded money, iPads and iPhones, but the male cashier told them the shop was low on stock, so the men filled their bags with other electrical items such as Xboxes, tablets and USB sticks. Cunningham ran out of the Ongar shop to place the stolen items in the car, but couldn’t get it started and ran off on foot. A few minutes later, Flanagan also fled when he couldn’t find the car keys. Gardaí found the €4,458 worth of stolen items and €300 cash in the car, which had red tape coloured over with black marker to change the registration. Gardaí spotted a man matching Flanagan’s description exit the village bookies a short time after the robbery and when they asked for his name, he replied: ‘Mr Flanagan’. Cunningham was found hiding in shrubbery close to the scene. Sentencing, Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said that though this was ‘ostensibly an armed robbery’ its execution was poor. He gave Flanagan a two-year suspended sentence and Cunningham a three-year suspended sentence for carrying the weapon.
Bless me, Father Dublin actor Brendan Gleeson met one of his biggest fans, Kirsty Delaney, at the premiere of his new film Calvary, in which he plays a priest intent on making the world a better place. It was the opening film of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival at the Savoy last night picture: brian mcevoy
Keep Dublin tidy – Please recycle this Metro Herald when you are finished with it