Man under pressure to pay off drug debt threatens to burn his local shop during a robbery

By Sonya McLean

A man who threatened to burn down his local shop while robbing it after he had been put under pressure to pay of a drug debt has been jailed for 33 months. 

 Darragh Kane (26) later told gardaí he had been beaten the night before he raided the shop in Tallaght.

He said his mother had previously given him €70 to clear the debt but it was not enough and he decided to rob the shop to gather more funds.

Garda Daniel Maloney told Stephen Montgomery BL, prosecuting, that Kane approached the staff with a Lucozade bottle in his hand before he spilled liquid over the counter.

There was a very strong smell of petrol and Kane took out a lighter.

 “Give me the cash or I will burn ye,” Kane told staff before he also took out a knife.

 Staff later said they were terrified. They handed over some cash but Kane insisted there was more before he reached over and took the whole drawer from the till.

He robbed a total of €466.

 Kane of Cushlawn Walk, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery on July 23, 2024. He has previous convictions for drug and road traffic offences.

 Sarah-Jane O’Callaghan BL, defending, told Judge Orla Crowe that Kane handed over the money his mother had given him to those that he owed money to but “it was not enough”.

 “He will have to live with that for the rest of his life but he made the decision to rob the shop on the back of the threats,” Ms O’Callaghan said.

 Judge Crowe said “the threshold for custody has been acceded” in the case as Kane had carried out a robbery in broad daylight when customers, including a woman with her young baby, and staff were left terrified.

 She commended the gardaí who she said “acted very quickly and tracked the suspect down”.

 Judge Crowe acknowledged that Kane came from a very good family who are also impacted by his crime but said that the courts primary concern has to be for the victims in this robbery.

 She accepted that Kane has “deep shame and remorse” and that he was under pressure to pay off a drug debt before she imposed a sentence of three years and nine months.

 Judge Crowe suspended the final 12 months of the sentence on strict conditions including that Kane engage with the Probation Service for 12 months upon his ultimate release from prison.

 Gda Maloney said when gardaí arrived they immediately got a strong smell of petrol from the shop. They saw from CCTV footage that the robber had “an obvious tattoo on his hand”.

 Kane was later identified as a potential suspect and gardaí secured a warrant to search his home. During the search clothing with matched that worn by the raider were found in his bedroom.

 Kane made no admissions during garda interview.

His DNA was later found on the Lucozade bottle and the liquid was confirmed to be petrol.

None of the money was recovered.

The CCTV footage of the robbery was played for the court. One customer was a woman with her young baby in a buggy. 

 Ms O’Callaghan said her client’s head “is hanging in shame”.

She said her client instructs that he had an exceptional home life and could not have asked for a better childhood.

His father died and he struggled to get over the death.

He began to use drugs and became addicted.

 Ms O’Callaghan asked for the case to be adjourned to allow for her client to attend for residential drug treatment.

She said there was a “significant rehabilitation prospect with a potential bed available”, Ms O’Callaghan said.