Female staff in Mayo store stood up to knife-wielding robber
The defendant pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court.
Two women have been hailed for their courage after foiling a robber who was armed with a knife.
A court heard how Breda Heffernan and Valerie Irwin tackled drug addict Ian Burke when he tried to steal cash from Rings & Things in Castlebar on January 4, 2022.
Burke, aged 46, from Saleen, Castlebar tried to hold up a hairdresser's just a few minutes later. He pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to robbery and attempted robbery.
Sgt Paula Sheehan told the court that Burke entered Rings & Things on Main Street at 3.30pm, armed with a 12-inch kitchen knife. His face was covered with tights and he had black socks over his hands. Burke shouted at store worker Breda Heffernan to open the till and came at her with the knife, but she pushed him off.
Ms Hefferan was in fear for her life and shouted for her colleague Valerie Irwin, who was working upstairs, to call Gardaí. She refused to open the till or give him any money. Ms Irwin came running down the stairs, shouted at Burke and threw a box at him. He fled the scene with just a bunch of keys.
A short time later, at 3.50pm, Burke entered Hair by Tala on New Antrim Street. The owner of the business saw him carrying something metal in her hand and shouted for her husband who was in the back of the shop. He saw Burke running out the door.
Sgt Sheehan said she was on patrol when she spotted Burke. He ran away but was located minutes later at the old cemetery on Lannagh Road. Burke had his hood up and was carrying a black bin liner. He was pulling a pair of black tights from his head.
When he was arrested, he told gardaí: “I will get 10 years for this, I did it for [my] son.” While a DNA sample was being taken at the station at 7.45pm, Burke escaped out the window of a doctor's room, jumped the security gate but was caught by Gardaí on the Mall.
Burke told officers he was desperate for money. He said he needed the knife or else the person in the shop could run out the door, but he had no intention of using it. He has 16 previous convictions.
The court was told he was withdrawing from heroin and spice (a mixture of cannabis and other drugs) when he committed the crimes.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Hefferan said she lived in fear of bumping into Burke in Castlebar, adding that after the incident he walked around the town “as if nothing had happened".
Defending barrister Diarmuid Connolly said his client has a “long-standing chronic addiction to drink and drugs", and was a “slave to addiction". The court was told Burke owed €3,000 to drug dealers and at one stage was spending €1,000 a week to feed his habit.
“The one bright glimmer in this case was the courage of the two women in the shop that day,” stated Judge Garavan.
He praised the bravery of the women who “didn’t give way to fear".
The Judge said Burke’s offences were “basically highway robbery on Main Street, Castlebar”. He jailed the defendant for five years.
