A MAN who was involved in a €247,000 diamond jewel robbery was jailed for 18 months yesterday.
Vjaceslavs Moisejevs (23), Adamstown Avenue, Lucan, Dublin, was charged at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court with the theft of property worth €247,000 from Nicholas and Mary Bourke of Bourke’s Jewellers, Market Square, Enniscorthy.
Philip Sheahan, prosecuting, said 36 diamond rings were stolen and two watches.
Det Garda Dermot Saunders said Moisejevs and two others entered the shop at 3pm on January 18th, 2008, and picked the locks on two cabinets, removing the watches and a tray of diamond rings, all in under three minutes.
The Bourkes were only compensated for €144,000 from their insurance company, leaving them with a loss of €103,000.
Moisejevs was arrested and admitted his role in the robbery. He told gardaí another man (who has skipped bail and is at large) disposed of most of the jewellery.
John Costelloe, defending, said his client was a Latvian man who was being sought under a European arrest warrant for another offence. Mr Costelloe said it was an amateur operation as the men did not cover their faces and were identifiable on CCTV.
He said Moisejevs would be sent back to Latvia once he completes any sentence handed down by the judge, to serve an 18-month sentence there.
In sentencing Judge Alice Doyle took into account an early plea, his attempts at rehabilitation and the fact that he faced further jail in Latvia.
His sentence was backdated to November 29th, 2009.