Man stalked Laois people after they withdrew large sums from ATMs
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A MAN who allegedly watched, followed and robbed two people after they had withdrawn large sums of money from a bank in Portlaoise was denied bail at a recent sitting of Portlaoise District Court.
Michael McDonald (55), 90 Ballyowen Lane, Lucan, Dublin was before the court charged with the theft of €10,000 from a car in the car park of Emo National School on 13 November last year and on 19 December the same year, the theft of €3,475 from another car that was parked in the Telford’s Hardware car park, Clonminam Business Park, Portlaoise.
In what was described by the prosecuting garda Trevor Darcy as an alleged ‘jugging’ crime, he told the court that the director of public prosecutions (DPP) had not yet provided directions in the case.
Asked to outline the allegations by Judge Andrew Cody, Garda Darcy said that on 13 November, a woman withdrew €10,000, which was placed in an envelope from the AIB Bank in Lyster Square. She got into her car and made several stops around the town before driving to Emo National School. When she returned to her car about ten minutes later in the school car park, she found the driver’s side window broken and the envelope containing the money missing.
Garda Darcy said that a large amount of CCTV footage had been harvested from around Portlaoise, which tracked the woman’s route from the bank to the various stops she made around Portlaoise, up to the Mountmellick Road.
He also alleged that the defendant could be seen on various CCTV footage entering the front door of the bank, following the woman out to her car and then as a passenger in a car that followed her.
In the second alleged incident, Garda Darcy said a man had withdrawn €3,475 from the same bank on 19 December. He said that this man was, allegedly, followed from the bank by the accused. From Lyster Square, the man drove into Laois Shopping Centre, then on to the Midway Food Court and parked in the car park of Telford’s Hardware. When he returned to his car after being in the hardware store, the money had been taken from his car.
He said that CCTV footage from this location shows Mr McDonald, allegedly, trying the door handle of the man’s car.
Garda Darcy said no money had been recovered.
CCTV footage of the two alleged incidents was played to the court.
Mr McDonald’s solicitor said that there was no CCTV footage that puts his client at the scene of the alleged crime in Emo National School and the CCTV footage of him at Telford’s Hardware does not show him breaking into the car or taking money from it.
The solicitor described the evidence provided to the court by Garda Darcy as “circumstantial.” He said no direction as to how the case was to proceed had been issued and his client should be released on bail to await the DPP’s directions.
Judge Cody said that the court acknowledged that the accused is before it as an innocent man and said after considering the totality of the evidence and the seriousness of the offences, he was refusing bail to Mr McDonald.
He went on to remand the defendant in custody to the 26 March sitting of the court.
