Addict hailed taxi as get-away car for chemist raiders
A heroin addict who hailed a taxi outside a pharmacy while his accomplices were inside holding up staff with a barbecue fork has been given a suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Mark Heffernan (aged 27), of Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra was found guilty by a jury after a three day trial in February of the unlawful seizure of the taxi at Drumcondra Road Lower on October 8, 2005.
Judge Desmond Hogan imposed a sentence of three years imprisonment which he suspended for three years on conditions.
Garda Paul Fahy told Mr Patrick McGrath BL, prosecuting, that Heffernan hailed a passing taxi while two accomplices, Gary Edney and Christopher Heffernan, were inside robbing the Unicare Pharmacy, Drumcondra Road Lower armed with a barbecue fork.
Gda Fahy said Mark Heffernan got into the front seat of the taxi and asked the driver to wait for his friends. The taxi driver said two men covering their heads with what looked like pillow cases got into the back of the taxi and he was told to drive.
He said the barbecue fork was held to his neck by one of the men in the rear of the taxi and Mark Heffernan objected saying "leave him, leave him". He was ordered to drive up Clonliffe Road with the fork still being held to his neck and warned not to flash his lights at a passing garda car.
Gda Fahy said Heffernan told the two men in the back to get down and hide so they would not be seen.
He said gardaí were alerted to the robbery and given a description of the taxi. Gda Fahy came across the taxi at Summerhill Parade and pulled along side it activating his patrol car’s siren. He saw the raiders shouting at the driver who then drove on the wrong side of the road up North Circular Road after being ordered to do so.
The taxi stopped after turning into North Summer Street and the raiders jumped out. Gardaí arrested the two back seat passengers and Mark Heffernan, who fled the scene, was arrested later that month.
Gda Fahy said Edney and Christopher Heffernan pleaded guilty to the robbery of the store and seizing the taxi but Mark Heffernan, who has two previous convictions, denied involvement and went to trial.
He said the taxi driver was terrified during his ordeal and was nervous picking up passengers for a while afterwards but has since fully recovered.
Gda Fahy agreed with Mr Cormac Quinn BL, defending, that Mark Heffernan had hailed the taxi but had not taken part in the robbery of the store.
Mr Quinn said his client had a long term heroin addiction but had made "remarkable progress" and had been attending drug rehabilitation since the birth of his son last year. He said Heffernan had played a lessor role in the enterprise and did not have a significant history of offending.
Edney was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in March by Judge Donagh McDonagh on these and other charges. Christopher Heffernan was sentenced to four years for the robbery on another date.
Garda Alan McDevitt told Judge McDonagh that Edney and Christopher Heffernan entered the store wearing suits and ties but then pulled balaclavas over their heads and threatened staff with a barbecue fork. They escaped with drugs and €398 cash.
Gda McDevitt said a passer-by tried to foil their getaway by holding the exit door of the store shut from the outside but Christopher Heffernan kicked the glass door causing it to shatter and they made their way to the waiting taxi.
