A man who walked out of a store with a 42'' TV but claimed he was intimidated into it by former associates who stuck a shotgun in his mouth, got short shrift in court this week (June 3 ) when a disbelieving judge sent him down for 11 months.
Edward Martin (31 ), originally from Balbriggan, Co Dublin but now living with his partner in Thornbury Drive, Willow Park, was in court to plead guilty to taking the €800 television from Dunnes Stores in Irishtown on January 6.
He also pleaded guilty to two smaller thefts of yoghurt, chocolate and cuddly toys on February 23 and 28.
In an attempt at mitigation, Martin had written a “lengthy” letter to the court to explain the difficulties he'd faced since his release from prison three years ago after serving five years of a six year sentence for theft and burglary.
Judge John Neilan accepted the letter and began to read but stopped very quickly to address defending solicitor, Mr Padraig Quinn.
“It says here that after getting out of Mountjoy jail in 2006 'I had a shotgun put to my head and in my mouth' and he didn't go to the Gardai?” asked the judge.
“No, judge,” said Mr Quinn.
“If not, who's going to run this country? The thugs and hooligans or the members of the Oireachteas?”
“In fairness,” said Mr Quinn, “they [former associates] went to him. He didn't go to them.”
“How can I accept these as mitigating factors when this man alleges that somewhere in the State someone puts a shotgun to his head? The only place for this letter is the Garda station,” said the judge.
“Why didn't he go to the Garda station? Does he think the thugs and hooligans run the place? They made a good go of it but they're not.”
Through his solicitor, Martin admitted he knew who made these threats on his life but was not willing to give that detail in court.
The judge then turned to the concrete issues before him and told Martin that: “If you don't have the television or the price of it here in the next five minutes, I'll apply sentence”.
“You may apply sentence,” said Mr Quinn, “he won't have it here in the next five minutes”.
The judge sentenced Martin to 11 months in jail and set his bail at €600, with an independent surety at €900.
