A HOMELESS man who stole more than €36,000 in the opportunistic burglary of a newsagent’s and spent it in city centre hotels and later on heroin has been remanded in custody at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court pending sentence.
Stephen Robbens (39), who has 126 previous convictions in Ireland and 92 in England, slipped into the cash office of the shop unnoticed and happened upon a cash box containing €36,370.
Two months later he was again “desperate” for money for drugs and committed an almost identical burglary in a supermarket, stealing €500.
Robbens, with an address at Snowdrop Walk, Darndale, pleaded guilty to burglary of Colemans newsagent’s, Westmoreland Street, on July 19th, 2007. He also pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and burglary at Spar, Parliament Street, in August and September of the same year.
Judge Katherine Delahunt remanded Robbens in custody until his sentence date next June.
Robbens told gardaí that he caught a door unnoticed at the back of Colemans as a staff member exited, went down to the basement office, found a set of keys and one of the keys opened a cash box containing €36,370.
He said he had only intended to take cigarettes or jewellery and was “shaking” when he found the money. He said he was homeless at the time, and he spent it on hotels and bought heroin in bulk.