Gareth Flynn (34) handed over a note to a cashier in the Allied Irish Bank on Westmoreland Street in Dublin, demanding money and stating that his son had Leukemia and if the panic alarm was pressed he would shoot before he lifted his top to display a weapon.
Det Garda Joseph Heaphy told the prosecution that the cashier handed over €14,000 before Mr Flynn fled the building. The cashier then pressed the panic alarm and gardaí arrived to the scene.
Mr Flynn was identified as a suspect after gardaí viewed CCTV footage and a bag was found in nearby D'Olier Street containing the clothes and a work pass with Mr Flynn’s photo.
Mr Heaphy said Mr Flynn then left Ireland before he was charged but later turned himself in to the station last November admitting the crime.
At the station, Mr Flynn was also found to be carrying a kinder egg full of Zopiclone tablets worth €160.
“Society should be grateful sometimes for the incompetence of the criminal class.”
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Mr Flynn of Buttercup Park, Darndale, Dublin 17, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery and threat to kill or cause serious injury at the AIB, in Westmoreland Street on October 10th, 2019 and to the possession of drugs at the garda station on November 22nd, 2019.
Judge Martin Nolan commented that “society should be grateful sometimes for the incompetence of the criminal class” which allowed for their easy detection.
He took into account Mr Flynn's difficult background and the fact that he is now getting on “very well” in prison.
Mr Heaphy agreed with the defending counsel, that Mr Flynn was very remorseful during interview and said he thought about the robbery every night.
Mr Flynn claimed he had used a toy gun that he had just bought before the robbery and sprayed it with black paint, which was also found in the bag in D'Olier Street.
Mr Heaphy agreed that there was no planning involved in the robbery and it was “a spur of the moment thing”.
Mr Flynn’s representative referred the court to an old psychological report, saying he had a tough childhood having discovered his mother, who had died by suicide when he was 18.
Counsel said his client was “deep down a courteous affable man who has had to live with awful tragedy”, suggesting he lost all control and sanity when he committed the robbery.
