Jamie Byrne, now aged 20, was on bail waiting sentence for attempted robbery of a bookmakers when he took part in the attempted robbery of a newsagents and robbery of a service station. <\/p>\n
Byrne is currently serving a two and a half year sentence for the offence at the bookmakers and had been due for release next month. He has seven previous convictions. <\/p>\n
Byrne of St. Teresas Road, Crumlin, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempted robbery of a newsagents on Sundrive Road, Crumlin on January 26, 2016 and robbery of a Texaco Garage, Crumlin Road on January 27, 2016. <\/p>\n
Judge Karen O'Connor noted that one of the business owners had experienced a significant increase in his insurance premium as a result of being robbed and has had to let one member of staff go. <\/p>\n
She said that these offences were not in any way victimless crimes. <\/p>\n
She said all of society pays for this type of crime in terms of increased security and insurance costs for businesses. <\/p>\n
Judge O'Connor noted that Byrne came from a supportive family and had suffered with a drug addiction in the past. <\/p>\n
She imposed a two and half year sentence to run consecutive to his current term. She suspended the final 18 months of the sentence on strict conditions. <\/p>\n
Garda Shane Curtis told Fionnuala O'Sullivan BL, prosecuting, that Byrne had jumped up on the counter during both offences. <\/p>\n
In the first, an attempted robbery, his co-accused had been armed with a broken bottle while Byrne engaged in a fight with a staff member. The pair fled empty handed. <\/p>\n
Gda Curtis said in a robbery the following morning Byrne was first into the store while his co-accused, who was armed with a chair leg, demanded money from staff. They made off with 625. <\/p>\n
Byrne, who had been captured on CCTV and was wearing distinctive clothing, was arrested. <\/p>\n
Gardai found 200 on his person. Judge O'Connor ordered that money be returned to the business owner. <\/p>\n
Defence counsel, Barry Ward BL, said Byrne had been addicted to cannabis and cocaine in the past but submitted he had moved on from his chaotic addictive behaviour. <\/p>\n
He said he was instructed Byrne was part of peer group at that time, of which he was the youngest, and there was an element of bravado. <\/p>\n
He submitted Byrne was making progress and had an appreciation of the damage he had done. <\/p>\n
Mr Ward said Byrne, who is now a father himself, had a supportive family background. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Extra jail time for young thug - Sunday World<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jamie Byrne, now aged 20, was on bail waiting sentence for attempted robbery of a bookmakers when he took part in the attempted robbery of a newsagents and robbery of a service station. Continue reading