A former HSE home care assistant who made knifepoint death threats during post office raids he carried out in order to raise money to visit his fiancée in the US has been jailed for four years.
Fintan Tindley of Loughmahon Avenue in Mahon, Cork previously pleased guilty to the robbery of South Douglas Road Post Office in Cork on November 11th, 2022, attempted robbery of the same post office seven days later on November 18th and robbing Ballintemple Post Office in Cork on November 16th, 2022.
Detective Garda Kevin Motherway previously told the court that the 49-year-old had travelled to the US twice in 2022 in order to visit a woman called Skye.
The pair had become engaged after they struck up a relationship online. Det Garda Motherway said that Mr Tindley had told gardaí he was "desperate" to be reunited with his fiancée in the States.
Det Garda Motherway said that Tindley had obtained loans of €27,000 from the credit union and €10,000 from An Post. He also borrowed €3,000 from the widow of a man whom he had taken care of in the course of his work. He said that it was alleged that he also received €4000 from another pensioner whom he had attended on during the course of his work.
Det Garda Motherway said that Tindley had sent some €19,000 to his fiancée. This included money he stole during the first two post office raids which involved an amount in excess €3,000.
The court heard that Skye had no idea where the funds had come from and was blameless in the offence.
Det Garda Motherway said gardaí examined Mr Tindley’s phone and found that he had been googling a total of nine post-offices in the Cork area around the time the offences were committed
He told the court that at lunchtime on November 11th, 2022 Tindley went into the South Douglas Road post office. He put a knife to the neck of a customer in his seventies, who feared he was going to be cut, and demanded “all the money” from the postmistress. A sum of €2,380 was stolen from the post office that day.
Just five days later Mr Tindley went to Ballintemple post office at noon and put a knife to the neck of a woman in her forties. He demanded €15,000.
“The customer was in fear that she was going to be injured or killed. He (Tindley) left with €1,300.”
He returned to the South Douglas Road post office on November 18th and grabbed a woman in her 40s and threatened her with a knife as he demanded monies. The woman thought she was going to be stabbed. He fled empty-handed when the postmistress hit the panic alarm.
CCTV
Meanwhile, gardaí harvested CCTV from the area surrounding South Douglas Road post office. They noted that on one of the days that he committed an offence onsite Tindley was captured waiting in a car for two hours before entering the post office.
His gold coloured Nissan Qashqai was quite distinctive and gardai were able to track him down as the car had three alloys and one odd wheel.
Mr Tindley was also identified from CCTV whilst the knife used in the robberies was found under the driver’s seat of his vehicle.A hat was also recovered from the car which contained the DNA of Mr Tindley.
Defence Counsel Elizabeth O’Connell, SC, said that the crimes committed by Mr Tindley were “totally out of character". She said that her client had always been a person “who was a million miles away from someone with criminal tendencies".
Tindley handed in letters of apology to the three post office customers impacted by his crimes. He also wrote letters to the members of staff who were on duty when the post offices were raided.
Ms O’Connell conceded that the crimes committed by Tindley were “indefensible” and “traumatic and frightening” for the victims in the case.
She said that there was “an unusual degree of disconnect between these violent offences and the offender.”
In sentencing Judge Colin Daly said that whilst the crimes were “premeditated” they showed a “low level of sophistication in execution.”
Judge Daly said that two people impacted by the offences were out of work from the trauma whilst others had experienced anxiety and suffering arising out of the incident.
Judge Daly said that Tindley had “grabbed innocent bystanders” and put knives to the necks of two of them. He acknowledged that it was an unusual case as Mr Tindley was without previous convictions before he carried out a sudden “spree of criminal activity.”
In mitigation, he said that Mr Tindley had entered a guilty plea, was a “diligent employee, a good son and a carer to his mother.”
Judge Daly said that Tindley had apologised for his crimes whilst co-operating fully with the garda investigation. He jailed Tindley for five years suspending the last year of the sentence.
