A former HSE home care assistant has been jailed for four years after putting a knife to the necks of customers during three separate post office raids. He carried out the crimes as he tried to get money to pay off a €37,000 debt arising from a trip to the US to visit a woman he had met online.
Fintan Tindley (49) had pleaded guilty to nine separate offences arising from the robbery and attempted robbery at South Douglas Road Post Office in Cork on November 11th and November 18th, 2022, and the robbery at Ballintemple Post Office, also in Cork, on November 16th, 2022.
Judge Colin Daly said that it was an unusual feature of the case that Tindley, from Loughmahon Avenue, Mahon, Cork, had reached his late 40s without coming to the attention of gardaí, only for him to suddenly embark on a crime spree in which he held up three post offices inside a week.
Det Garda Kevin Motherway had earlier told Cork Circuit Criminal Court how Tindley, wearing a mask and hat, entered the South Douglas Road Post Office on November 11th, grabbed a 72-year-old male customer and put a knife to his neck and made off with €2,380 from a terrified staff member.
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Five days later, Tindley, again wearing a mask and hat, entered Ballintemple Post Office, grabbed a 44-year-old female customer, put a knife to her neck and demanded €15,000 from the postmistress, who told him that she didn’t have that sort of money in the post office but handed over €1,300.
On November 18th, 2022, Tindley returned to South Douglas Road Post Office and, again wearing a mask and hat, grabbed a 45-year-old woman, put a knife to her neck and again demanded €15,000. But he fled empty-handed when a staff member pressed a panic button.
Gardaí had obtained CCTV footage of Tindley taking off his mask and hat after the Ballintemple raid and were on the lookout for his gold-coloured Nissan Qashqai. He was caught less than 500 yards from the South Douglas Road Post Office soon after the failed raid on November 18th.
Det Garda Motherway said Tindley was under financial pressure after borrowing a total of €37,000 to travel to the United States in January 2022 to meet a woman who had become his fiancee after an online encounter and to whom he had sent €19,000, wiring her the cash from the two post offices he later raided.
Judge Daly had remanded Tindley for sentence until Friday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court and he noted that while the sums that Tindley stole, totalling €3,680, were not huge, the raids were notable for the level of aggression used.
He noted that robbery can carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment but, citing case law, he said he believed the offences fell within the mid-range of such offending and should attract sentences of between five and 10 years. He located them midway along that scale.
He believed the headline sentence for the first South Douglas Road robbery was seven years, that for Ballinlough was nine years because it was a second offence during which he demanded more money, and the attempted robbery back at South Douglas Road also merited a seven-year headline sentence.
However, he had to take into account mitigating factors, including the fact that Tindley had pleaded guilty, which, importantly, spared his victims from having to give evidence.He also noted that Tindley had co-operated with the gardaí from his second interview.
He also noted that Tindley, who broke down when shown CCTV footage of the raids and was shown the victims statements at interview, had written letters of apology to all five people affected by his offending and he believed that Tindley’s expressions of remorse were “genuine and heartfelt”.
He also had to take account of the fact that Tindley had no previous convictions of any kind and had never come to adverse garda attention before last November. He also noted that a report by psychologist Dr Timothy O’Higgins deemed him to be at a low risk of reoffending.
He said that it appeared that the robberies were out of character and, taking all factors into account, he would reduce the three headline sentences to five years for the Ballinlough offence and 3½ years for the two South Douglas Road offences.
And to provide an incentive towards rehabilitation, he would suspend the final year of each sentence, leaving Tindley with four years to serve for the Ballinlough raid and 2½ on the other two. All three sentences are to run concurrently and were backdated to November, when he went into custody.
