TWO cousins have been jailed for a handbag snatch which left their 60 year old victim with a permanent scar. Judge Kieran O'Connor said the courts had to protect women from such evil attacks, and refused leave to appeal.
Det Garda Gerard Finan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that the woman had withdrawn money from a cash dispenser in a Dun Laoghaire bank. She fell when her bag was snatched, and needed five stitches for a cut on the forehead which left a permanent mild scar.
Det Garda Finan told prosecuting counsel Ms Isobel Kennedy that as a result of confidential information he set up a surveillance operation near a petrol filling station and arrested the defendants three days later.
Judge O'Connor jailed Peter Mulvaney for four years, and Gerard Ecker for two years. He suspended the final year of each sentence and directed that both get treatment for their drug problems.
Mulvaney (24), of Desmond Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, pleaded guilty to larceny and Ecker (22), of Glenalua Terrace, Killiney, pleaded guilty to robbery of the handbag on April 3rd, 1995. Mulvaney had nine previous convictions and Ecker had none.
Judge O'Connor told Ecker his first criminal offence of robbery carried a potential life sentence. The court had no option in such cases but to jail the culprits.
He refused the applications by defence counsel Mr Luan O Braonain and Mr Conor Devally for leave to appeal severity of sentence.