A DRUG addict who carried out three raids on premises in south Dublin has been given a nine-year sentence by Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Liam Gaynor (43) asked the staff in Hughes and Hughes bookshop in Dún Laoghaire if they were “okay” and thanked them after he had jumped over the counter and grabbed €650 from the register.
He later denied to gardaí that he had stolen the money but acknowledged that he was a suspect.
Gaynor, Smithvilla’s Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, pleaded guilty to the theft at the bookshop and three pharmacy robberies on dates between March 15th, 2008, and May 25th, 2009. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of false imprisonment during a robbery on May 25th, 2009.
He had 30 previous convictions which included a four-year sentence for robbery.
Judge O’Donnell noted there had been no physical violence but said the “roaring and shouting” some of Gaynor’s victims were subjected to was “a form of violence.” He imposed consecutive sentences totalling nine years and suspended the final five years.