A 38-year-old man has been found guilty of the armed robbery of over €1 million worth of stock from a jewellers in Galway.
Irmantas Paulauskas will be sentenced with three other men, who pleaded guilty to their involvement in the robbery last year.
A jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court spent just under half an hour deliberating before they found Paulauskas guilty of the theft of €1.1m worth of diamond rings and Rolex watches from Hartmann's jewellers in February 2015.
He had pleaded not guilty during a five-day trial and also denied a second charge of having an imitation pistol with a silencer fitted with intent to commit robbery.
The court heard evidence of how four men, two of them armed with imitation pistols and the other two armed with lump-hammers, entered the shop around 10.40am on the morning in question with their faces partially covered.
Female staff were held at gunpoint by Paulauskas and another man, while the other two men used the hammers to "smash and grab" the rings and watches from the window displays.
They then made their escape on foot but members of the public who witnessed the robbery in progress rang gardaí.
Two civilians followed the men down along the streets until plain clothes detectives caught up with them and apprehended two of the suspects - including Paulauskas - at Middle Street, a short distance away from the jewellers.
Paulauskas and the other man were wrestled to the ground, arrested and taken to Galway garda station.
The other two escaped on bicycles the gang had stashed near the Docks and they headed towards the bus station at Fairgreen Rd near Ceannt railway station.
They hid two rucksacks, which contained the stolen items, under a bush at the water's edge in Lough Atalia.
These two men were arrested moments later as they tried to board a bus back to Dublin.
Paulauskas did not co-operate in any way with the ensuing garda investigation.
He denied knowing the other three men and he denied any involvement in the armed robbery.
He claimed he had come to Ireland "for no reason" a couple of days beforehand, had come to Galway by bus for the day and was just wandering around the streets when he was "kidnapped" by strange men.
During three interviews, he refused to accept they were gardaí and he refused to acknowledge he was being held in a garda station.
Paulauskas bowed his head when the Lithuanian interpreter, who had sat beside him for the duration the trial, told him he had been found guilty.
His co-accused, Saulius Repecka, 37, Erikas Matusevicius, 36, and Vaidas Pinelis, 28, have all been in custody since entering their guilty pleas to the same charges last year.
They will all be sentenced tomorrow.
