A man has been given a sentence of 10 years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his role in an attempted armed raid of a post office in which two of his fellow gang members were shot dead by gardaí.
Gavin Farrelly (35), of Lower Sherriff Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery of Ms Linda Neary at the Village Stores, Post Office, Main Street, Lusk, on May 26th, 2005.
He also admitted to allowing himself to be carried in a stolen car, which was unregistered and bore false licence plates, on the same day.
Colm Griffin (33), from Canon Lillis Avenue, and Eric Hopkins (24), from Lower Rutland Street, both in Dublin city centre, were shot dead when gardaí intercepted them at the scene.
The entire incident lasted for 21 seconds.
Judge Joseph Matthews described the raid as "a highly planned, carefully thought out criminal enterprise" and said the deaths of two of the raiders were a "human tragedy".
Judge Matthews said the appropriate sentence was one of 10 years for the armed robbery.
However, he said he was suspending the final two years due to the mitigating factors he had outlined.
He imposed a concurrent sentence of 2½ years on the second count, backdating both for six weeks to reflect time in custody.
He said he was taking into account that gardaí regarded Farrelly as the "brawn rather than the brains" of the raid as well as his early guilty plea, his co-operation with gardaí and the fact that his previous convictions were for minor offences.
He also noted Farrelly's voluntary work and character references which described the offence as "out of character".