Thief who robbed two Cork pharmacies within the space of 30 minutes jailed

A Georgian man who stole more than €1,000 worth of goods from two Cork pharmacies in less than 30 minutes has been jailed in the district court.

Court presenter Sergeant Eimear O’Connell told Bandon District Court that the accused man, Aleqsander Amirajibi, 26, with an address at Parnell St, Dublin, had pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.

Giving evidence, Sergeant Kevin Heffernan said that on June 6, 2025, the accused man and an accomplice arrived at the Riverstick Pharmacy in Riverstick, Co Cork, at 12.42pm.

He said the shop was fully stocked with gifts for Father’s Day and, in three minutes, the thieves had taken €550 worth of aftershave, placing the bottles in their pockets.

Numerous items from brands including Calvin Klein, Dior, and Jimmy Choo with values ranging from €40 to €90 were taken. The thefts were caught on CCTV, which showed the two men leaving the shop at 12.45pm.

At 1pm, the same two men entered McCabe’s Pharmacy at The Glen, Kinsale, Co Cork. In less than two minutes, they took high value creams and serums valued at €902.90, left the shop, and headed into an adjacent SuperValu supermarket.

Arrested

Both men were arrested a short time later near the scene but, despite an extensive search, the stolen goods could not be found.

Sgt Heffernan said that when asked how he got from Riverstick to Kinsale, Amirajibi said that he took the bus.

Sgt Heffernan said that with only one bus per hour, it would be impossible to make the journey that quickly.

He said that gardaí suspected a third person and/or a vehicle were also involved in the thefts, though there was no evidence to prove it. He said that Amirajibi did not have any money, a bus ticket, or car keys in his possession when he was arrested.

Amirajibi told gardaí that he had sold the stolen goods to “a local man” for €15.

Defence solicitor Éamonn Flemming said that Amirajibi had arrived in Ireland in 2022, and his application for international protection had been refused.

He said his client was appealing that decision and a theft conviction would not help his case. Mr Flemming said that his client was a heroin addict and, despite being in difficult circumstances, had no previous convictions.

He said that he could only surmise that he had possibly been “used as a pawn by other people”, on this occasion.

Judge Joanne Carroll said that, in his favour, Amirajibi had pleaded guilty and had no convictions since arriving in Ireland in 2022.

She said there were two key negative factors, however, that he had not returned the stolen goods and had not offered a true explanation of how he got from Riverstick to Kinsale.

Amirajibi was sentenced to four months in prison on each count to run concurrently. The sentences were backdated to June 10, when he was arrested, and recognisance in the event of an appeal was fixed in his own bond of €100.

• This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.