Three members of a Romanian organised crime group have admitted their involvement in three ram raid robberies in 24 hours on three businesses in Dublin and Kildare.
The men stole cars last year and used them to ram the front windows of two phone shops in Dublin city centre and Newbridge, and a car dealership in Clondalkin, before fleeing the scenes.
The 3 Ireland shop on Henry Street sustained over €50,000 worth of damage and lost another €7,000 in sales while it was closed.
Another €16,000 worth of damage was caused to a phone shop in Newbridge, while a BMW 5 Series was stolen from the car dealership in Clondalkin and over €4,000 worth of damage caused there.
The gang’s spate of crimes began just before 2.30am on 3 July 2023 when they used a “dummy car” – a stolen silver Mercedes – to smash through the front window of the Vodafone Shop at the Whitewater shopping centre in Newbridge.
They caused extensive damage but could not get access to the safe and fled with the till.
The gang then broke into Leinster Motors in Clondalkin just after half past midnight the following day, 4 July, and used a Citroen C5 there to smash the gates and steal the 5 Series BMW, which they used as a getaway car for their next robbery.
Three and a half hours later, at 4.01am, they again used the stolen Mercedes to ram the front window of the 3 Store on Henry Street in Dublin city centre.
CCTV showed four men running frantically around the shop trying to steal the display phones.
However, the gang left with nothing because the shop’s stock was kept in the safe.
The three gang members who pleaded guilty to robbery, burglary and organised crime offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court are 19-year-old Ricardo Stanku, 31-year-old Daniel Murgea and 38-year-old Ionut Leonard Petriu, all with addresses at flats on Middle Abbey Street and on the North Circular Road in Dublin.
They were arrested three weeks after the offences following the establishment of the garda operation “Docht”, which established that the gang was family-based and related through their partners or marriage.
Detective Garda Tom Mc Evoy told the court that all three men have previous convictions.
Mr Petriu and Mr Stanku have one each, while Mr Murgea has 13 in Italy and three in France for theft, dealing in stolen goods and criminal association.
The court was told that Ricardo Stanku had come to Ireland as a child with his mother and went to school here before returning to Romania in his teens.
He never knew his father and was three weeks back in Ireland when he got involved, he claimed, because of “familial pressure.”
His defence counsel Dean Kelly said he was doing well in prison and was working in the kitchen where only the most trusted prisoners are permitted because of the weapons.
He now wants to pursue a career in ‘cooking’ after he is released.
The court was told that Mr Murgea “was a soldier acting on the direction of others”, and that while he has an insight into his offending, he was “under the control” of others. His counsel Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing said he suffered from depression and was on disability because of it.
In the case of Mr Peitriu, his barrister Fergal McMurrow said he has always worked in the catering industry and is currently employed in a well-known respected Dublin hotel where he has been promoted from kitchen porter to junior chef.
He has a wife and three children at school here and is “a hard working family man” who has made a life for himself in the State.
Judge Orla Crowe said she would sentence the men on Wednesday.
