A man has been sentenced to five years for robbing a Dublin shopkeeper and his son at gunpoint after following them on their bank run.
The court heard that John McGrath turned to his son, Niall, and said “we are in trouble here” after he saw Eugene Cullen (29) and another man get out of a Mini car behind them.
Cullen was armed with a single-barrel shotgun and wearing what Mr McGrath described as a home-made bee-keeper’s hat, while his accomplice had a balaclava pulled over his face and was holding a hammer.
When the two men could not open the van doors, they threatened to shoot the McGraths. Cullen’s accomplice broke the windows, reached in and took a bundle of notes from John McGrath’s jacket pocket. They then went to the back of the van and took bundles of coins. They returned to their car, threw the cash on the back seat and drove off.
Niall McGrath ran after the car, which was driven by a third man, but lost sight of it. He later provided gardaí with its registration.
The McGraths had just returned from visiting a bank in Ranelagh to get change for the float for the Spar shop they owned in Milltown. They had intended to pull in front of the shop to deliver the cash when the Mini boxed them in.
Cullen, Comeragh Road, Drimnagh, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the theft of €3,460 at Milltown on November 15th, 2007.
European arrest warrant
The court heard that Cullen was arrested and interviewed but released without charge in November 2007 and he left Ireland. He has been in custody under a European arrest warrant since May 2012.
He has 76 previous convictions including 47 road traffic convictions and 12 for theft.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring suspended the final 12 months of the sentence on strict conditions having taken into account Cullen’s plea of guilty.