A MAN whose accomplice was shot dead by gardaí as they tried to rob a cash van has been sentenced to 10 years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Armed gardaí were monitoring the men before they held up the van. The dead man, Garrett Molloy (27) fired a shot before he was shot and killed by a detective.
Keith Murtagh (25) was also hit and seriously wounded. He underwent emergency surgery and was arrested after he was released from hospital six weeks later.
After the evidence was heard, Murtagh insisted on addressing the court and said the gardaí involved were murderers.
He said the deceased was a very close friend of his and they had known each other all their lives. He apologised to the cash van workers and gardaí, but added: “No one turned around to me and said, ‘put down the weapon’. I’m casting them as murderers.” Judge Katherine Delahunt sentenced him to 10 years on the attempted robbery charge and eight years on the weapons possession charge to run concurrently. She suspended the final two years of the longer sentence.
“There can be no other terror worse for cash van workers than to have to stare down the barrel of a sawn-off shotgun,” she said.
After sentence was handed down, Murtagh thanked the judge and shouted at gardaí: “I’m still alive, I’m still alive!”
Murtagh of Mariners Port, Sheriff Street Lower, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and possession of a weapon with intent to endanger life at Foxboro Road, Lucan, on May 15th, 2009.
Det Sgt Seán Cosgrove told prosecuting counsel, Dominic McGinn, that the cash van containing three men was on its route in Lucan when they were warned by radio that there was suspicious activity in the area. They stopped to refill an ATM and one of the men Tim McDonald got out to open the machine. A car pulled up and two men in balaclavas got out and ran towards him. One grabbed him and pushed him against the van while threatening to shoot him. A colleague inside the van saw what happened and ejected a cash box containing €40,000. Mr McDonald then heard a single gunshot and was sure he was going to be killed.
He then heard gardaí call out repeatedly, “drop your weapon”, followed by several more gunshots. Det Sgt Cosgrove said there were another four men involved in the planned robbery and they have also been charged. He said the deceased had grabbed Mr McDonald while holding the shotgun. He said officers had made themselves known before firing five shots, hitting both raiders and that the incident lasted about 16 seconds.
Murtagh has 42 previous convictions for mostly minor offences.
Det Sgt Cosgrove agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, that Murtagh was not an organiser or leader and had been taking part to pay back a debt. He said he had claimed to be the organiser but was doing this out of “a misplaced sense of loyalty or fear”.