Man charged with threatening to kill four people at Cork credit union  

Charges of threatening to kill four people at a credit union were brought against a man who was previously charged with carrying out a robbery there while armed with what had the appearance of a handgun.

Garda Kate Kelly said at Cork District Court that there was an objection to bail in the case where new charges were brought, including threatening to kill or seriously injury four people and robbing a purse from a customer.

Stephen Murphy, aged 41, of 1 Deanrock Villas, Togher, Cork, already faced a count of robbery on Friday, May 15, at The Lough Credit Union, Togher Road, Cork.

Now he is also charged with robbing a customer’s purse, having an imitation handgun with intent to commit an indictable offence, threatening to kill a woman working there and three customers — two women and a man — by allegedly indicating that that they would be killed or caused serious harm on the occasion.

Judge David Waters refused bail and remanded the accused in custody until September 8.

Ballistic tests 

It was previously indicated that ballistics tests are to be carried out on what appeared to be a handgun seized by gardaí during the investigation.

Judge Waters said at an earlier hearing that regardless of forensics, even if it is found to be an imitation handgun, he still found the case to be too serious for the district court where it was alleged that what appeared to be a gun was pointed at a person’s head.

Sergeant Aisling Murphy said, the allegations in the case were that: “On May 15, 2026, at 11.30am, gardaí responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Lough Credit Union, where it was alleged that a male entered the credit union, wearing all black and fully covered up.

“He approached an elderly female at the cash desk and pointed a handgun at her head and put his arm around her neck.

“He then threatened the teller to empty the till or he would shoot the female. He pointed the gun at the teller and demanded money. In the face of the threat the teller gave the culprit the cash in the till.”