Dublin man jailed after string of city centre robberies

By Natasha Reid

A 45-year-old Dubliner has been jailed for 12 years for a spate of robberies in city shops, one where he held a knife to a customer’s throat.

Diarmuid Molloy, with addresses at Bride Road and Lower Gardiner Street, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, where he had pleaded guilty to three robberies and the possession of a knife to intimidate a customer.

These included an attempted robbery on 21^st June 2022 at Tesco, College Green; a robbery at Brady’s Pharmacy, Camden St, and the false imprisonment of a customer there the following day; and a robbery at Thomas Street Pharmacy and possession of a knife to intimidate a customer there on 24^th June 2022.

The court heard that during the robbery of Brady’s Pharmacy, Molloy put his arm around a female customer and held her, threatening a number of times: “Open the till or I’ll hurt her.”

The sales assistant was a 78-year-old lady who was left shaken. When informed that she is still working there two years later, Judge Martin Nolan described her as ‘pretty resilient’.

After leaving Brady’s, Molloy was captured on CCTV footage changing his clothes in a doorway, with the assistance of an unidentified man, who had brought him the change of clothes.

The court heard that CCTV was central to the Thomas Street Pharmacy robbery investigation.

Molloy was seen waiting outside for some time and going inside after a female customer went in.

Witnesses told gardaí that he was behind her and asking quite rudely to speak to staff. She moved, and he moved close to her. He grabbed her shoulder, held her in a chokehold and produced a six-inch knife.

He was heard telling staff to: “Give me money or she’s going to be stabbed,” and “I’ll slit her throat.”

Once he got cash, he fled and changed his clothes, having also changed them before the robbery.

During the Tesco incident, he threatened to stab the cashier if he did not give him a box of cigarettes.

Defence counsel Carol Doherty BL said that her client understood that his behaviour was shameful. She said that he had a death wish at the time and was still suicidal.

She said that he had suffered horrific, systemic abuse at the hands of each caregiver he had in his childhood and had turned to drugs.

He had since achieved a prolonged period of sobriety, but this was ended by the death of his child, with ‘tragedy heaped on top of tragedy in his life’.

He could not remember any of the robberies clearly and had carried them out for drug money.

Judge Nolan said that grabbing someone by the neck and threatening to stab her was a very serious incident.

He noted that he had just weeks ago imposed sentences of six years and three years on him for similar crimes.

On that occasion, the court heard that he had done well when sober, including saving the life of a prison officer in 2004.

However, at the time of the robberies for which he was being sentenced that day, he had hoped to be shot by armed gardaí when they pulled him out of a canal.

Judge Nolan noted then that he hadn’t got the best start in life, but said he had gone out and committed several robberies, terrifying dozens of people.

“He has to suffer an extension of prison,” he said today.

He sentenced him to six years for the Thomas Street Pharmacy robbery, three years for the offence at Tesco and six years for the Brady’s Pharmacy incident. He said that these were to run concurrently, but consecutive to the six-year sentence he imposed last month.

“So that’s a sentence of 12 years for all of your robberies,” he told Molloy.