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A CONDEMNED THIEF who looted a store during Storm Emma in 2018 will go to prison if he does not stay “on the right track,” the Court of Appeal warned.
David Berney (39), of Suncroft Park, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty in 2018 to robbery at a Centra store in Jobstown, Tallaght on March 2, 2018, during heavy snowfall.
He was given an 18-month suspended sentence that the Court of Appeal ruled in March last year to be unduly lenient. The court gave Berney time to show that he could be rehabilitated and today Judge Isobel Kennedy said she was “pleased that he has progressed very well.”
She said the appropriate sentence is three years, but in light of her successful rehabilitation efforts, the court would suspend the entire term for three years.
Suspension is subject to conditions, including that if you lose your job you must hire probation services to find a new one. Judge Kennedy pushed back the sentence until November 2019.
Court of Appeal Chief Justice George Birmingham said Berney has the suspended sentence “hanging over his head.”
He added: “Having put yourself on the straight and narrow path, you must stay there and if you let things get out of hand, you will be in a very dire situation.
Hearing Berney’s sentence, his attorney, Eoin Lawlor BL, said that Berney, like many people, was reminded of his childhood by the heavy snowfall.
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“But unlike others, at the time he was high on cocaine,” the attorney told Judge Cormac Quinn.
He was also out on bail awaiting prosecution for a robbery at a private home in Rocklodge, Stepaside on December 3, 2014. He pleaded guilty to both crimes and Judge Quinn imposed a two-year sentence for the 2014 robbery.
He imposed another 18 months for the looting incident, but suspended this term on the condition that he keep the peace and commit to addiction and social reintegration services. The Director of the Public Ministry appealed the sentence claiming that it was unduly lenient.
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