A Chinese national who robbed the tenants of a flat he entered on the pretext of renting a room has been jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Liu Chang (22), Buckingham Village, in the Dublin north inner city area, who had gambled away €10,000 given to him by his family when he came to Ireland to improve his English, told the victims: "We can't survive here any more and want to borrow money from you guys."
He and three accomplices forced the tenants to reveal their bank ATM pin numbers on threat of being knifed and made off with four mobile phones, a laptop computer, software and €1,215 cash. The defendant pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery at the flat in Miltown on October 30th, 2002.
Det Sgt J.J. Keane told Mr Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that the three injured parties, also Chinese nationals, were students with part-time jobs who had placed an advertisement in the USIT office for a fourth flatmate.
Det Sgt Keane said gardai identified Liu Chang from fingerprints at the scene. His female accomplice and one of the men were identified in a city centre amusement arcade. Warrants have been issued for their arrest but they have not been found. The fourth person has never been identified.
Judge Desmond Hogan backdated the three-year sentence to May 2003 when Lui Chang entered custody and suspended the final six months on condition that he enter into a bond to keep the peace for three years.