Post-office raider: It’s your lucky day
A post-office raider told a postmaster, first thing on a Monday morning, “it’s your lucky day” as he tried to force his way into the premises.
However, the postmaster was able to push the raider out the door despite having an imitation gun pressed to his jaw.
Alan Duggan, aged 33, of 65 Ballinderry Park, Mayfield, denied the crime and went on trial by judge and jury yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. He must have realised by late afternoon that it was not his lucky day, as he changed his pleas to guilty of charges of robbery and of having the imitation gun and a screwdriver.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin sentenced Duggan to six years in jail with the final two suspended.
Before Duggan’s guilty plea, the judge said of the defence: “It was not bizarre, it was demented.”
A woman in Grenagh had been put under pressure to collect Duggan at his home in Mayfield, drive him to the rural post office, and then drive him home after agreeing to burn some of his clothing and wash other items.
Duggan instructed his counsel, Niamh Stewart, to put it to the driver that she was lying and the robbery had been planned and carried out by her and another man and had nothing to do with him.
The judge said such a “demented” construction of the events was symptomatic of Duggan’s approach to life in general, even when faced with overwhelming evidence.
The woman from Grenagh, said she was put under pressure to collect Duggan. Gardaí spoke to her later that day and she admitted everything she ha done. She did not know about a plan to rob the post office but felt Duggan was up to no good.
The judge also referred to the bravery of postmaster Martin O’Flaherty in fending off the raider and said the raid is something nobody opening any kind of shop should ever have to face.
Mr O’Flaherty said he has since retired and cited the attempted robbery in January as one of the factors in his decision. The post office now operates from a local garage.
Mr O’Flaherty recalled that just before 9am on January 29, he saw a man on the street and thought it was unusual at that time.
“I felt there was a confrontation coming,” he said. “I went to open the door. I was in trouble straight away. He made a sarcastic remark, ‘this is your lucky day’. I said: ‘You’re not coming in.’
“He started pushing. He had a plastic bag and a screwdriver. I saw a silver-handled gun. He placed it against my jaw. I knew I was in massive trouble. I gave one almighty push to get him out the door. He stumbled and ran away up the street.”
Detective Garda Maurice Leahy said Duggan had 128 previous convictions, including 15 counts serious enough to be dealt with at circuit court level, and one for robbery in 2001.
