A man has been jailed for seven years by Judge Michael White for his role in a Co Meath post office robbery 10 years ago in which another member of the gang was shot dead by armed gardaí.
Joseph Cooney (38), of Dunsink Drive, Finglas, was himself shot in the stomach by gardaí outside Tara Post Office on November 6th, 1992, when he emerged carrying a cash bag.
The court had heard he was arrested when he returned home to visit his ailing father.
Cooney, married with two young children, pleaded guilty to robbery, unlawful possession of a sawn-off shotgun and three cartridges on November 6th, 1992. He had previous convictions for robbery, larceny, burglary and malicious damage.
The court heard that Cooney absconded while on bail during District Court proceedings in relation to the robbery in which he took part while on temporary release from a six-year prison term.
Judge White took into account mitigating arguments from Mr Luigi Rea, defending, and noted that Cooney had not been in trouble here or in England for more than seven years.
He was entitled to credit for that, and the court therefore suspended the final three years of the seven-year sentence.
Judge White also imposed two four-year terms to run concurrently on the gun and ammunition counts.
Mr Rea submitted that Cooney was entitled to mitigation of his sentence as a result of an English Court of Appeal ruling, which laid down that the court was entitled to take into consideration that an offender had completely changed his way of life.
Mr Rea also submitted that the gun and ammunition guilty pleas were entered and accepted on the grounds that Cooney took part in a joint enterprise but was not the raider carrying the gun. He played the lesser role in the robbery at a time when he was a heroin addict.
Mr Rea said Cooney had now dealt with his drug problem. He worked in England and had lived in dread of "the knock on the door" for this offence.
He was arrested having come to visit his ailing father because his mother's death, in his absence, preyed on his mind.
Robert McGrath (26), of Finglas Place, Finglas East, was shot dead by gardaí after he pointed a sawn-off shotgun at them when he emerged from the post office with Cooney and a third man.