Judge orders arrest of youth who mugged heavily pregnant woman
A judge has ordered the arrest of a youth who mugged a heavily pregnant woman during a horrific robbery and then skipped court today.
Christopher Robinson (aged 18), who has an address at Clanranald Road, Donnycarney, Dublin was found guilty in July of robbery of an iPhone from the woman on the evening of January 21 last.
A tracker app on the woman's smart-phone had led to him being caught, the Dublin Children's Court has heard.
He had been granted bail pending sentence but failed to appear at the juvenile court today and Judge John O'Connor issued a bench warrant for the youth's arrest.
Dublin Children's Court heard that the woman, who was then 27 weeks pregnant, had been walking near her home, at Collins Park, in Donnycarney and was on her phone talking to her husband when she was approached from behind by two people one of whom was wearing a blue sleeveless jacket.
“I felt like I was being carried along,” she had said as she described how two youths were either side of her.
She was knocked to the ground and suffered bruising to her face and grazing on her hands as she tried to protect her unborn child from getting hurt in the fall.
She said she was “really shaken by this” but identified the teenager for Garda James Nugent at a fast food outlet in Marino about 40 minutes later.
Judge O'Connor heard that the woman's phone was grabbed from her and her husband who had heard her screams arrived on the scene moments later.
The husband saw two people running in the distance and after the robbery his wife remembered that her phone could be traced by using the “Find My Friends” app.
Her husband, using his own smart-phone, was able to pinpoint the direction in which his wife's phone had been taken, which led them, along with Garda Nugent, to the chip shop.
Gda Nugent said the woman could see the teenager, who was still wearing a blue sleeveless jacket, through the window of the chip shop and identified him as being one of the robbers.
The phone was recovered from a third youth.
Gda Nugent told defence solicitor Gareth Noble that when questioned the teenager admitted being present but denied being involved in the robbery.
In evidence the youth claimed he had been in the vicinity as two other youths robbed the woman but he was adamant that he was not involved.
He said that later at the fast food outlet that the stolen phone had been passed on to him for a second before he handed it to someone else.
The youth had already been given a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last December for other robbery offences.
A 16-year-old boy was sentenced to six-month's probation for his role in the mugging.
