A SKERRIES man who drunkenly attempted to rob his local post office with a cigarette lighter shaped like a gun has been given a suspended sentence.
Gerard Weldon (48), told gardaí he knew he had no chance of getting away with it and had wanted to get away from his life by killing himself or getting locked up.
Weldon, of Kelly’s Bay Heights, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempted robbery at Skerries Post Office on March 22nd, 2003. He has seven previous convictions.
Judge Martin Nolan noted he used a replica weapon, but the staff had believed it was real. He said Weldon was addressing his problems and he imposed a four-year suspended sentence.
Garda Gerard Moroney told Séamus Clarke, prosecuting, that Weldon skipped to the front of a queue of customers at the branch and when told by the cashier, who knew him, to go to the end of the queue, he produced what looked like a gun and demanded cash.
The cashier noted he smelled of alcohol and hit the panic button. A co-worker went to a back office and locked up the cash. When Weldon pushed the object under the hatch and pointed it at the cashier’s head she froze with fear, thinking she might be shot.
Garda Moroney arrived from the station across the road and was directed to the front of the queue, where he saw Weldon. As Weldon turned and began to walk out Garda Moroney twisted the gun-like object out of his hand and restrained him.
Weldon told gardaí he had brought the lighter with him with the intention of robbing the post office. He said he had bills to pay.
Garda Moroney agreed with Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing, defending, that Weldon was highly intoxicated, but was co-operative.
Mr Ó Dúnlaing said the offence was a cry for help and Weldon had demonstrated extreme remorse in an interview.