'Stick-up' raider tackled by pensioner and Ukrainian man
"This is a stick-up" is what the first man in a queue told a postmistress as soon as she opened for business - but within minutes, he was arrested and held by a local pensioner and a Ukrainian national.
John Monahan has been given a three-year suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his "stick-up" which ended at the hands of 73-year-old Michael Ryan and 28-year-old Dima Shlionchyk.
Monahan had been at the head of the queue at Ormond Quay Post Office near the city centre when he confronted the postmistress, Ms Anne Sweeney. His captors were the next two in line.
Mr Ryan punched Monahan when he tried to escape from Mr Shlionchyk’s grasp but he surrendered to gardaí without further ado and said he had wanted money to pay the deposit on somewhere to live.
"My head was wrecked because I was sleeping on the streets," he told gardaí and also apologised to them for wasting their time and to the postmistress for the shock he caused her.
Detective garda Brian Lyons said Ms Sweeney had also succeeded in pressing two panic buttons to summon gardaí while putting the cash into Monahan’s plastic bag.
Monahan (aged 20) of Fortlawn Park, Blanchardstown, who pleaded guilty to robbery of €1,255 on March 10, 2005, also revealed to gardaí he had been "quite scared" himself while carrying out the robbery.
Mr Padraig Dwyer BL, defending, said his client’s life had now stabilised and he no longer abused alcohol. He was back living at home and wished to offer €1,000 compensation to Ms Sweeney.
Judge Desmond Hogan suspended the sentence on conditions, including that he stay out of trouble for three years and attend a drugs treatment course. He noted that Monahan had co-operated with gardaí and continued "in that spirit of co-operation" by pleading guilty.
Det garda Lyons told prosecuting counsel Mr Joe Barnes BL that Monahan produced what transpired to be a harmless replica handgun as well as a Dunnes Stores’ plastic bag to carry-off the cash in his "amateurish" robbery. He had not come to garda notice since.
Det garda Lyons agreed with Mr Dwyer that Monahan’s remorse was genuine.
