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- December 11, 2010, 10:46:24 AMA chronic cocaine addict who sent written apologies to most of the victims of over 30 syringe robbery crimes has been sentenced to nine years in prison by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Thomas Thompson (aged 35) told Judge Delahunt that he wants to meet his victims face-to-face at some point in the future to bring closure to the cases for them and himself.
Garda Declan Boland said most of the victims accepted Thompson’s letters of apology and the two tourists wrote to the garda station stating they would be interested in meeting with him to wish him well in his recovery.
Thompson,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, of Tymonville Drive, Tallaght pleaded guilty to 27 robberies and five attempted robberies between April 14, 2005 and January 18, 2006. His crimes included mYou are not allowed to view links. Register or Loginings on 21 taxi drivers.
Ms Marie Torrens BL, his defence counsel, said Thompson was also due to meet a representative from the Taxi Federation so they can pass on his "sincere apologies" to their members.
Gda Boland told Mr Stephen McCann BL, prosecuting,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, that Thompson had worked on a counselling course in Trinity College but told gardaí that after meeting a man on a bus who had a bag of cocaine he took some of it and "bingo - I was back to square one again".
Thompson told Judge Delahunt that he hoped to start an addiction studies course on his release from prison so he could become a counsellor to prevent others from making the same mistakes he did.
Judge Delahunt said that Thompson’s crimes represented a "robbery rampage" that involved significant and threatening weapons, including threats of transmission of the AIDs virus.
She accepted he had expressed sincere remorse, co-operated with the garda investigations and his pleas of guilty saved the State significant time and resources and saved his victims the trauma of giving evidence in court.
Judge Delahunt suspended the last year of the sentence on strict terms and conditions.
Thompson got away with a total of �3,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login,030 in cash, three mobile phones and tickets and threatened all his victims with a syringe, saying he would give them AIDs if they didn’t hand over money. He didn’t injure any of them but some told gardaí that they noticed a dark substance in the syringe.
The crimes included an attempted robbery on a Scottish and Canadian tourist and the robbery of World Wrestling Federation tickets from a man whom he had arranged to meet to buy the tickets from. He also raided eight shops, one with a co-accused who has yet to be dealt with.
Thompson told Ms Torrens that he wrote letters of apologies to most of his victims stating that he couldn’t justify his actions or begin to imagine the hurt and distress he would have caused them and their families.
He said he knew his actions had also hurt his long-term partner and their two children and he wanted to sort his life out so he could be a better father.
Gda Boland said Thompson used the same modus operandi in his robbery of the taxi drivers. He would hail down the car and on arrival at his destination would produce a syringe and demand cash.
He was identified by one taxi driver, Ms Sonya Whelan,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, after she was shown a series of photographs. He was arrested the following January when he admitted all the robberies and was remanded in custody.
He had 38 previous convictions which included a robbery for which he received a three-year jail term in 2003.
Ms Torrens told Judge Delahunt that although her client was easily identifiable from a facial scar, he admitted to all offences when questioned by gardaí and volunteered information on other crimes they weren’t aware of.
Cocaine addict gets nine years for robberies You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
Thomas Thompson (aged 35) told Judge Delahunt that he wants to meet his victims face-to-face at some point in the future to bring closure to the cases for them and himself.
Garda Declan Boland said most of the victims accepted Thompson’s letters of apology and the two tourists wrote to the garda station stating they would be interested in meeting with him to wish him well in his recovery.
Thompson,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, of Tymonville Drive, Tallaght pleaded guilty to 27 robberies and five attempted robberies between April 14, 2005 and January 18, 2006. His crimes included mYou are not allowed to view links. Register or Loginings on 21 taxi drivers.
Ms Marie Torrens BL, his defence counsel, said Thompson was also due to meet a representative from the Taxi Federation so they can pass on his "sincere apologies" to their members.
Gda Boland told Mr Stephen McCann BL, prosecuting,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, that Thompson had worked on a counselling course in Trinity College but told gardaí that after meeting a man on a bus who had a bag of cocaine he took some of it and "bingo - I was back to square one again".
Thompson told Judge Delahunt that he hoped to start an addiction studies course on his release from prison so he could become a counsellor to prevent others from making the same mistakes he did.
Judge Delahunt said that Thompson’s crimes represented a "robbery rampage" that involved significant and threatening weapons, including threats of transmission of the AIDs virus.
She accepted he had expressed sincere remorse, co-operated with the garda investigations and his pleas of guilty saved the State significant time and resources and saved his victims the trauma of giving evidence in court.
Judge Delahunt suspended the last year of the sentence on strict terms and conditions.
Thompson got away with a total of �3,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login,030 in cash, three mobile phones and tickets and threatened all his victims with a syringe, saying he would give them AIDs if they didn’t hand over money. He didn’t injure any of them but some told gardaí that they noticed a dark substance in the syringe.
The crimes included an attempted robbery on a Scottish and Canadian tourist and the robbery of World Wrestling Federation tickets from a man whom he had arranged to meet to buy the tickets from. He also raided eight shops, one with a co-accused who has yet to be dealt with.
Thompson told Ms Torrens that he wrote letters of apologies to most of his victims stating that he couldn’t justify his actions or begin to imagine the hurt and distress he would have caused them and their families.
He said he knew his actions had also hurt his long-term partner and their two children and he wanted to sort his life out so he could be a better father.
Gda Boland said Thompson used the same modus operandi in his robbery of the taxi drivers. He would hail down the car and on arrival at his destination would produce a syringe and demand cash.
He was identified by one taxi driver, Ms Sonya Whelan,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, after she was shown a series of photographs. He was arrested the following January when he admitted all the robberies and was remanded in custody.
He had 38 previous convictions which included a robbery for which he received a three-year jail term in 2003.
Ms Torrens told Judge Delahunt that although her client was easily identifiable from a facial scar, he admitted to all offences when questioned by gardaí and volunteered information on other crimes they weren’t aware of.
Cocaine addict gets nine years for robberies You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login