A man accused of being involved in an attempted theft from a cash-in-transit van told gardaí his use of a power tool near the van was “a moment of madness”.
The jury in the trial of Joseph Warren (30) heard he was holding a concrete saw which was running while another man tried to open the van using a set of keys.
When the keys failed to open the van, gardaí who were carrying out surveillance arrested the two men and four others allegedly involved in a plot to carry out the raid.
Mr Warren told gardaí it was never his intention to cut through the van using the power tool or “consaw”.
Asked if he thought following a cash-in-transit van before approaching it with a consaw was attempted robbery, he said: “I decided not to do anything illegal and turned off the consaw and put it back.” Mr Warren was arrested after he had put the power tool back into his car.
Mr Warren, Belclare Crescent, Ballymun, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring to steal cash from Chubb Ireland at Tesco supermarket in Celbridge on November 2nd, 2007.