A MAN studying a course in youth counselling was charged yesterday with false imprisonment of a bank worker and his housemate in connection with a €200,000 kidnap robbery last June.
Patrick Skelly (32), Railway Road, Clongriffin, in north Dublin, is accused of two counts of false imprisonment at Deerpark View, Tallaght, Dublin, on June 22nd last. The charges relate to the robbery of €200,000 from the AIB bank at Crumlin Cross.
Det Garda Kieran McGrath, of Tallaght Garda station, told Judge Denis McLoughlin he arrested the accused yesterday morning outside the Mater hospital on the North Circular Road.
Mr Skelly was brought to Tallaght station and “made no reply” to the charges, the Dublin District Court was told.
Det McGrath objected to bail, citing the seriousness of the charges. He said it was alleged “two males were falsely imprisoned at Deerpark View, in Tallaght, one of them was a bank employee”.
“A demand was made of him to obtain money from his workplace while his housemate remained falsely imprisoned,” he said.
The court heard Mr Skelly, who has been studying youth counselling at Liberties College, suffers from epilepsy and has been diagnosed with cancer.
Jenny McGeever, defending, said her client, who has been on social welfare, was seeking bail. She said he had been detained and questioned at the time of the incident and denied any involvement.
He was then released but the DPP had since directed he was to be charged. “He did not accept he was involved in any way in this matter,” she said. Ms McGeever asked the court to note he would comply with bail terms set by the court; he has been doing a “youth and communities studies” course and has ongoing health problems.
Judge McLoughlin refused to grant bail and remanded Mr Skelly in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on May 4th. He directed the defendant was to receive medical treatment in custody. Legal aid was granted to Mr Skelly.
He is the second person to be charged in relation to the incident.