A garda with a chronic drink problem who lost his job after attempting to rob a shop with an imitation firearm has been given a three-year suspended jail term.
Mario Boersma, 39, had pleaded guilty to an attempted robbery of Kilmoney Stores in Carrigaline and possession of an imitation firearm on March 27th 2010.
Today at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Detective Sergeant David Treacy told how Boersma went into the shop wearing a hoodie and a woollen hat pulled down like a balaclava and armed with a gun.
Boersma demanded money from a female member of staff and at first she thought it was a joke but when he again demanded money, she ducked behind the counter and closed the till.
Boersma fled on foot but the woman contacted both the gardaí and the owner of the store, Brian Hurley, who spotted a man emerging from some bushes 300m from the shop.
Mr Hurley lost sight of the man at Fernlea in Carrigaline but he identified the man to gardaí a short time when he spotted him walking at Fernlea with a woman and gardaí arrested him.
Gardaí had already recovered a holdall with a woollen hat and hoodie top from the bushes where the man had been seen and he later told them that he had also hidden the gun there.
Det Sgt Treacy told how when gardaí went back and searched the bushes again as Boersma had told them, they found the handgun which turned out to be an imitation firearm.
Boersma made immediate admissions and fully co-operated with gardaí and apologised for his actions and the upset and trauma he had caused the shop assistant, he said.
Boersma, with an address at Rosebay Drive, Forest Hill, Carrigaline, was a serving member of the gardaí based in Celbridge, Co Kildare, but was absent without leave for five months.
Det Sgt Treacy said Boersma had had a chronic alcohol problem for years and although he attended a treatment centre in Bruree, Co Limerick, before Christmas, he was unfortunately drinking again.
The court heard a victim impact statement from the shop assistant who said that she did not bear Boersma any ill-feeling and hoped he would get help for his alcoholism.
The woman said that she felt sorry for Boersma - who is separated - and said she did not believe that sending him to prison was the answer.
Det Sgt Treacy agreed with defence barrister, Donal O'Sullivan, BL, that the robbery was an act of desperation and Boersma had now lost everything including his job in the gardaí.
The court heard that Boersma's home had been repossessed and he was on the verge of having his car repossessed, said Mr O'Sullivan who pleaded for leniency for his client.
He pointed out that he had pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and was genuinely remorseful while Boersma as a former garda would find prison life difficult.
Judge Con Murphy accepted Boersma's early plea and he accepted that as a former garda going to prison, he could find himself in situations with people he may have prosecuted.
He said Boersma was ‘little more than a child’ in his approach to the robbery and he noted that he had co-operated fully with gardaí and assisted them in their investigation.
He said that taking everything into account, he believed the appropriate sentence was three years but he suspended it on condition Boersma keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
