A MAN WHO “targeted” four elderly ladies walking on their own and stole from them has been jailed for six years.
Joseph Curran (22) stole bags from all four ladies, knocking three of them to the ground in the process, including a woman in her 80s.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that two years prior to these offences, he was caught during a burglary and ultimately fled from the window of a bathroom he had locked himself inside after the homeowner tried to grapple him.
Curran of Cashel Avenue, Crumlin, pleaded guilty to robbery at a location in Crumlin, and theft at Walkinstown Avenue, Walkinstown, both on 22 June 2021.
He also pleaded guilty to two robberies at Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, on 16 September 2021. He had previously pleaded guilty to burglary at Shelton Park, Kimmage, on 10 October 2019.
Curran has 65 previous convictions, including convictions for robbery, burglary, criminal damage and possessing stolen property.
Passing sentence today, Judge Melanie Greally noted that Curran was on bail during the offending in 2021.
The judge said the robberies and theft were aggravated by the ladies being targeted due to their age and vulnerabilities, and due to the impact of the offences on the four women.
She said she took into account that he has tested negative for illegal substances while in custody and the content of a probation report which indicates he is motivated to cease his offending.
Judge Greally sentenced Curran to eight-and-a-half years imprisonment, but suspended the final two-and-a-half years of the sentence on strict conditions.
Garda Gary Cleary told Aideen Collard BL, prosecuting, that on the morning in June 2021, a 76-year-old woman was on her way to mass in Crumlin Church when she was pushed to the ground with such force that she hurt both her wrists, but suffered no ongoing injuries.
Curran took her bag and continued running away. The bag contained cash, a bank card and three sets of house keys.
Cleary said on the same date, a 67-year-old woman was on her way to work and was walking along Walkinstown Avenue when she noticed a shadow behind her. Curran snatched her handbag from her hand and fled the scene.
She rang gardaí and broke down in tears. Her bag had contained cash, a bank card, various keys and her phone.
Garda Cormac O’Donnell told Collard that on the date in September 2021, a woman in her 80′s was walking around a corner on Beechwood Avenue. The next thing she could remember was coming to with swelling to her head and her bag gone.
Her bag contained her phone, keys and cards. She has no memory of the robbery and has no ongoing injuries.
O’Donnell said on the same day in the same location, a 72-year-old woman felt someone grab her bag. She hit the ground and he was already running away.
Curran was identified by gardaí in all cases on CCTV footage obtained from the various areas. He was arrested following the final robbery and was refused bail.
Marc Thompson BL, defending, said that four elderly ladies being “targeted” by a man “jumps off the page as being distasteful and obviously very wrong”. He said his client had instructed him to apologise on his behalf to each of the four women.
Counsel asked the court to take into consideration his client committed the offences while in the throes of an addiction and to feed his habit.
Garda Liam Kearns told Collard that in October 2019, a homeowner in Shelton Park went home after multiple sensors went off in his home and discovered Curran coming down his stairs.
Kearns said that during an ensuring altercation, the homeowner attempted to grapple the accused and Curran’s hoodie came off before he locked himself inside a bathroom. He escaped out the window before gardaí arrived.
A watch was stolen during the burglary, while damage was caused to a garden shed door and to a conservatory door, the glass of which was smashed by a rock. Curran’s DNA was later matched to the hoodie left at the scene.
Thompson said his client was not a person who seeks out confrontation with the occupants of residences. He said his client was hit by a traumatic event when his brother was murdered and that a person has been convicted of this killing.
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