Former preacher gets suspended sentence for robbing bank
A former Baptist preacher carried out an armed bank robbery in Bandon, Co Cork, in a desperate effort to bridge the financial gap between selling his house in Bandon and buying one in Cork.
The bizarre crime resulted in Kieran Beville, (aged 48) from Lauragh, Bandon, Co Cork, being given a two-year suspended jail sentence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court today
Judge Patrick J. Moran said to Beville as he imposed the suspended sentence: “I hope you can get on with your life.”
Defence barrister, Pearse Sreenan, said the former Baptist preacher and theology lecturer had looked into his soul but could not find an explanation for his behaviour.
Detective Sergeant Gerry McCarthy said the defendant met his wife for lunch in Cork that day where they discussed the purchase of a house in the city.
She was not in favour of his plan to borrow more money to make up the shortfall in their finances.
On his drive back to Bandon that afternoon, August 5 last, he hatched the plan to rob the local bank where he was – and still is – a customer.
He masked himself, armed himself with a firearm that he bought many years before on a family holiday as a novelty item. It could not be used to fire a bullet and it was not loaded.
Det. Sgt McCarthy said Beville went behind the counter where he demanded cash from a safe. The staff member said it was not possible to open it. He then demanded money from a secure room.
The assistant typed in the code, opened the door and then pushed it out against Beville.
He then turned his attentions to a bank clerk and demanded money from her till. She put fivers and tenners into the bag but he screamed for larger denominations.
An assistant manager arrived on the floor with a mobile phone to his ear.
Beville pointed the gun at him and said: “I wouldn’t if I were you.”
He fled the scene with €3,365 in cash. Gardaí followed him on foot. A squad car prevented him from driving away and he was eventually caught with the cash and the firearm.
Beville apologised to the staff. In court he said: “I am just shocked and disturbed by all that has happened. I will have to live with it until my dying day. I admit what I did was wrong. I don’t think I will ever do anything like that again.”
Mr Sreenan BL said the defendant had spent all his life helping others. Judge Moran said: “It was bizarre in one way but it is very serious in another. To go into the bank in broad daylight with a mask over your face and a gun in your hand. A man of your background and education, a family man. It is extraordinary behaviour. What caused this bizarre action I really do not know.”
Beville was seeing a psychiatrist before this incident and he has also been receiving such treatment since.
Beville pleaded guilty to the charges of robbery and being in possession of a firearm at the time of the robbery.
