Post Office robber Noel Lavy
THREE bungling thieves from Derry used a bright red stolen Royal Mail van to carry out a terrifying post office robbery in Co Donegal.
The drug-crazed robbers dressed up in hi-visibilty jackets before traveling to Manorcunningham to carry out the raid on October 4 last year.
The men, carrying a hatchet, knife and hammer, terrified the postmistress before making a break for the border with €2,972 in cash from the raid.
The men initially tried to break down a locked door of the post office before realising the door beside it was actually open.
But unknown to the men, Gardai had been tipped off by their counterparts in the PSNI in Derry that a Royal Mail van had been hi-kjacked in Derry earlier in the day.
Detectives were patrolling the border and managed to use a stinger device to bring the getaway mail van to a halt.
All three men, who have 300 previous convictions between them, were arrested and appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court yesterday after pleading guilt an an earlier court sitting to the charges.
Detective Garda Rosemary Rooney recounted the terrifying experience which the gang put the postmistress through.
The court heard how Ms Kathleen Diver saw the men in hi-viz jackets coming past the window of her post office carrying weapons and pressed the alarm.
However, the men burst into the premises and smashed up the entire promises using the hammer and hatchet.
The terrified postmistress, who did not come to court, threw the cash at the robbers.
The owner of a hairdressing salon next door, Ms Amanda Devenney, managed to contact Gardai who rushed to the scene and also gave chase.
Post Office robber David Knight
All three men, David Knight, who is 37 and from 25 Melmore Gardens; Noel Lavy, also 37 and from 57 Ballymagowan; and Joseph McMullan, 25, who is from 5 Kavanagh Court, were arrested a short time later despite trying to flee across fields when the tyres of the mail van was burst by the Garda stinger.
The court heard how all three men came from deprived backgrounds and all had issues with drugs.
Barrister Damien Crawford said the raid was carried out with little planning and by men who were all high or under the influence of drugs.
“Short of driving a red fire engine or Dr Who’s tardis and wearing hi viz jackets they could be not more conspicuous,” he said.
Judge John Aylmer said he needed time to consider all the submissions of the men’s backgrounds and adjourned the case until next Wednesday, December 16.
Gardai at the scene after three Derry men robbed Donegal post office in Manorcunningham: Pic Copyright Joe Boland/NORTHWEST NEWSPIX
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