A teenage boy who ran off to London with his girlfriend and €25,000 of her father's money will by sentenced in June by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Karl Rooney, Allenton Park, Tallaght, and the girl, both 15 at the time, were caught by London transport police on a train at Euston Station the day after they took the money.
Judge Michael White, who called the incident a ridiculous escapade, heard that Rooney's girlfriend wanted to run away and told him where cash was hidden in her home. She distracted her grandmother, who was downstairs in the house, while he broke into a locked bedroom and took a briefcase containing €25,000. Rooney pleaded guilty to burgling the girl's home in Tallaght on March 17th, 2003.
Garda Amanda Timmons told barrister Garret Baker, prosecuting, that the girl had "guided Rooney to the money" and the two went to Dún Laoghaire to catch a boat to England. They missed the boat and headed back into the city centre to spend a night in a bed and breakfast. They opened the briefcase and discovered they had taken a greater amount than they expected. It was cash from a restaurant run by the girl's parents in Dublin.
Garda Timmons said they threw away the briefcase and transferred the cash into three carrier bags. They took a boat to Holyhead the next morning.
British police, in response to a missing person's alert, approached the couple on a train at Euston Station. The girl kicked one of the bags of cash away from her because it contained her passport and she did not want to be identified.
Garda Timmons told defence counsel Erwan Mill-Arden that the bag, containing about a third of the money, was lost but the balance of the stolen amount was recovered. She agreed with Mr Mill-Arden that both young people were shocked when they discovered the amount they had taken.
Garda Timmons also agreed that the Director of Public Prosecutions and the gardaí were happy for the case to be dealt with summarily but the District Court judge refused jurisdiction and sent it to the Circuit Criminal Court.