Three years for robber who wielded bar to intimidate staff

A 50-year-old man has been jailed for three years with the final year suspended for robbing a city shop armed with a length of aluminium and stealing cash from Dunnes.

John Dodd, with an address in Innishannagh Park, Newcastle, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last July to the robbery of €300 cash from XL Stores, Laurel Park, Newcastle, on October 7 last year and to the theft of €25 in coins for Dunnes Stores, Westside Shopping Centre, on September 3 last.

The plea was accepted by the prosecution on the basis that facts in relation to a charge of having a piece of aluminium in his possession with intent to intimidate or cause injury to another person during the course of the robbery at XL Stores, were admitted.

Defence barrister, Conal McCarthy asked at the time for sentence to be adjourned for a few months as Dodd, he said, was about to be assessed by St Francis’s Farm detox unit in Tullow, Co. Carlow.  He also asked for a probation report on his client prior to sentence.

Judge Rory McCabe agreed to adjourn sentence to November 6 and directed the preparation of the report for that date.

The court in November heard Dodd was about to go into the detox unit and undergo a 14-week treatment course there.  Sentence was adjourned for that reason to last January and again to last Friday’s court.

Prosecuting barrister, Conor Fahy, reminded Judge Rory McCabe on Friday that he gave Dodd a chance last November to go to St Francis Farm for treatment and at the time he warned him he was facing a three-year sentence for the robbery charge and 18 months for the theft

A probation report handed into the court stated Dodd discharged himself from the detox unit after completing just eight weeks of the 14-week course and was still at high risk of reoffending.

Defence barrister, Conal McCarthy said it had come as a surprise to him and Dodd’s solicitor that their client discharged himself, but on the positive side he had not come to Garda attention since and had remained drug-free.

He agreed with Mr Fahy, however, that there was no formal proof of the latter before the court.

He said Dodd had told him that he got involved in criminality when he was taking drugs and he said his client had told him he was going to start going to Narcotics Anonymous meetings the next day.

“Why is it, that he’s joining NA tomorrow?  Why is that?  Is is because of his proximity to the prison door, that he decides to now deal with this?” Judge McCabe asked rhetorically.

“He’s 50 now and is anxious at this stage to turn his life around,” Mr McCarthy offered by way of explanation.

He added that Dodd told him he left the detox unit because he had a personality clash with people there.

“Will he not have the same clash with people he meets in prison?”, Judge McCabe asked.

Mr McCarthy said that due to his age Dodd was bound to be set in his ways, which made it difficult for him to get on with people in such a setting.

He asked the judge to “hold his hand” and give his client one last chance and attend NA in Galway the next day.

Judge McCabe observed it came as a surprise to Dodd’s defence team that he had left the detox unit and it was clear he didn’t tell the probation service beforehand either.

“The specific reason this sentence wasn’t dealt with last November was because I was told he was going to St. Francis’ Farm for treatment.

“He decided he didn’t like it there and he cleared out.  He is not a young man and he knew well that what he was doing was going to have consequences here today.

“He has to have a better story than the one he is telling his barrister here today.”

The Judge said his reluctance to send anyone to prison was well known if there was a chance of rehabilitation, but Dodd had clearly made a decision to leave the unit after being given a chance to engage with the service.

“And even if he came in here today and said he had proof of being drug-free and was attending NA already and a person from NA was here to prove it, I might adjourn it, but he has done none of that,” Judge McCabe pointed out.

He sentenced Dodd to three years in prison for the robbery and a further 18 months for the theft.  He suspended the final year of the robbery sentence for three years and directed Dodd come under the supervision of the probation service for twelve months on his release from prison.