Kildare woman receives suspended sentence for knife robbery
Naas Courthouse
A Kildare who held a shop assistant at knifepoint at a service station in Newbridge while robbing €2,400 from the till received a three-year suspended sentence at Naas Circuit Court on Tuesday 20 May.
Catriona Hunter, aged 38, with an address at Hazelwood, Newbridge pleaded guilty to robbery at McLoughlin’s Garage, Ballymany, Newbridge on 16 December 2022.
The shop assistant reported the woman entering the shop wearing a hood and holding something in her hand.
Not soon after, the woman demanded the doors of the garage to be locked and the tills to be opened, revealing that she was carrying a knife.
The court heard that the accused told the victim she would kill everyone and wasn’t joking. The victim, “scared for their life”, opened the till and a value of €2,400 was taken.
Shortly afterwards, 999 was called and gardaí attended. The court was told the victim gave her statement and was still in shock from the incident. The accused, who had returned to the area after initially leaving, was detained and interviewed by gardaí.
In the interview, the accused told gardaí that she had little recollection of the incident, but identified herself in the CCTV footage and accepted that the knife was hers.
The woman told gardaí that she went out to get a bottle of wine and doesn’t remember much after that. It was then found that the accused had a drug debt of €600 on her hands at the time.
The accused had six previous convictions on her record, three of which were for public order matters.
Barrister Mark Gibbons told the court: “This was entirely out of character for her. She was very surprised when she saw CCTV and was apologetic and shocked at her own behaviour.”
The court heard that two days after the incident, the woman admitted herself to Cuan Mhuire Treatment Centre for 12 weeks for help with addiction issues.
After that period, she went on to another drug and alcohol treatment centre, Coolmine TC, where she remains on a programme.
Mr Gibbons said in support: “She has of her own volition solved this. She has herself rehabilitated.”
Judge Terence O’Sullivan described “a remarkable feature” of the case, that the owner of the affected establishment wanted to give Catriona “the benefit of the doubt” and provided no victim impact statement.
Judge O’Sullivan stated: “I accept it out of his (the owner) mouth that it was out of character.”
The judge noted the accused had returned all of the money and apologised to the victims, as well as enrolling in treatment for her addiction problems.
“She got her act together,” he said.
Judge O’Sullivan imposed a three-year suspended sentence with certain terms and conditions that she must enter into a peace bond, is not allowed to use illicit drugs and is to continue her treatment in Coolmine.
