A 27-year-old man who produced a knife in a ham-fisted attempted robbery at Fat Belly fast food takeaway ran from the premises when one member of staff waved a bigger knife from behind the counter.

A colleague of the man behind the counter produced some kind of stick during the same incident.

Detective Garda Liam Lynch charged Anthony Buckley of 27 Townsend Place, Greenmount, Cork, with attempted robbery at the premises at 20 George’s Quay, Cork, on November 27, 2019 and two charges related to the alleged production of a knife at the scene.

Buckley signed a plea of guilty to each charge at Cork District Court.

Now at Cork Circuit Criminal Court Det. Garda Lynch gave evidence of the ill-fated crime.

He said Buckley, who has a long time drug problem, walked into the fast food outlet and produced a knife. However, he left with nothing when the two men working there picked up the knife and stick that were behind the counter and waved them in the air.

There was no physical contact between any of the parties during the incident.

Det. Garda Lynch said, “I know him a long time. He has always had a drug problem.” Emmet Boyle, defence barrister, said the accused man was attending Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and rehabilitation organisations to deal with his addictions.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said he could not hold it against him that Covid-19 restrictions had prevented him getting into residential treatment but that it had to be dealt with by way of a prison sentence.

“It is not acceptable to be going into a shop with a knife. It may have been ham-fisted enough but these things can get out of hand,” the judge said as he jailed the accused for two years.