DPP appeals sentence for Cork man who raided three post offices 

The DPP’s appeal against a four-year jail term being too lenient in the case of a 50-year-old health care worker who raided three Cork post offices while armed with a knife was rejected at the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said that he, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Ms Justice Una Ní Raifeartaigh, found that the Director of Public Prosecutions had not shown that the sentencing judge, Judge Colin Daly had erred in principle in imposing a sentence of five years with the last year suspended in the case against Fintan Tindley at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

In effect, Mr Tindley continues to serve the four years imposed last June without any increase today.

His senior counsel Elizabeth O’Connell suggested that this was a highly unusual set of circumstances where a person with no previous convictions carried out these serious crimes with a certain sense of naivety, for instance parking his gold-coloured Qashqai car near the post offices when he was robbing them.

Ms O’Connell said the sentencing judge approached the unusual factors in a very nuanced manner and showed an “intuitive synthesis” when dealing with the aggravating and mitigating factors.

Paula McCarthy barrister for the DPP submitted that, “essentially, the totality of the sentence was unduly lenient”.

She said that not only were the post office staff victims of the crimes but that Fintan Tindley caught a customer and held a knife to their throat in each robbery, the customers being a 72-year-old man in the first case, a 44-year-old woman in the second and a 45-year-old woman in the third.

“I say there was excessive weight given to the mitigating factors,” Ms McCarthy said on behalf of the DPP.

Det Garda Kevin Motherway said at the original sentencing hearing that the accused had been a customer at two of the post offices prior to the crimes and there was evidence that he had been looking at nine post offices in the Cork area when he was caught.

Judge Daly said of the victims of the violent crimes, “These were members of his own community.

“One can only conclude that his actions are most unusual in circumstances where prior to November 2022 he had never come to the attention of An Garda Síochána before. By all accounts he was diligent employee and dutiful son.

“While he was under stress, he was financially supportive of his mother and he was not suffering any particular psychological problems.” 

He carried out a robbery of South Douglas Road post office on November 11 and attempted robbery there on November 18, and robbed Ballintemple post office on November 16, 2022. Each time he grabbed and unsuspecting customer and placed a knife to their throat making a death threat as he demanded cash from the post mistress.

Judge Daly said: “Culpability is high where he deliberately and intentionally disguised himself with a hat and mask and armed himself with a knife.”

The judge said that two of the victims to these crimes attributed their decisions to stop working, to the experience of these crimes carried out by Tindley.

Detective Garda Kevin Motherway testified that at lunchtime on November 11, 2022 the accused entered South Douglas post office and placed a knife to the neck of 72-year-old customer and shouted at the post mistress: “Give me all the money.” 

The customer said he felt the knife at his neck and feared he was going to be cut. €2,380 was robbed from the post office that day.

Five days later he turned up shortly before noon at Ballintemple post office and placed a knife to the neck of a 44-year-old woman who was there to post a parcel. On this occasion he demanded €15,000.

“The customer was in fear that she was going to be injured or killed. The defendant left with €1,300.

“He returned to the South Douglas Road post office and grabbed a 45-year-old woman and again threatened her with a knife as he demanded €15,000 but he fled when the post mistress sounded the panic alarm. On that occasion the customer feared she was going to be stabbed or seriously harmed.” On the occasions of these two robberies and one attempted robbery he wore a hat and mask.

Fintan Tindley travelled to the USA in 2022 where he met his fiancé whom he had originally met online, and sent her a total of €19,000.

Having worked as a HSE home care assistant and having no previous convictions, the crimes at the post offices were described by Elizabeth O’Connell senior counsel as totally out of character – as he had always been a person who was “a million miles away from someone with criminal tendencies.”

She said that the accused had written letters of apology to the three customers he threatened and the three members of staff on duty when he raided.

The defence senior counsel said there was “an unusual degree of disconnect between these violent offences and the offender”.