A Dublin man, who escaped from Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court by jumping 18 feet from a first-floor window, was subsequently recaptured and sentenced to five years in jail for robbing a building society.
Daniel Christian (28), of Rafters Avenue, Drimnagh, made his leap for freedom as the robbery charge was being read to him by the county registrar yesterday morning.
He moved towards the open window, which was six feet from the judges' bench, and ran from the court environs.
Prison officers and gardai gave chase and he was found hiding by a prison officer and returned to the court within two hours.
When the case was called in the afternoon, Christian pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing £9,797 cash from the Irish Nationwide Building Society, Clanbrassil Street, Dundalk, on April 12th.
The court heard that he bought a toy gun on the morning of the robbery and produced it to the lone female cashier during the raid. He then ordered her to fill an empty hold-all with cash and told her not to press any buttons or raise the alarm.
He escaped with two accomplices in a car they had bought in Dundalk a few days earlier.
Det Sgt Tom Duffy gave evidence that the three men had travelled from Dublin the night before the raid and originally intended to rob the Educational Building Society. When they saw three cashiers in the EBS, they decided against it.
He agreed with Giollaiosa O Lideadha, defending, that the accused was a chronic heroin addict whose crimes were to feed his habit. He had been addicted to the drug since he left school at 15.
The robbery was one of a number of crimes he committed while on temporary release from a seven-year sentence imposed for robbery by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in 1997.
Judge Ray Groarke said if the defendant remained on this path, it would be his total downfall.