Man accused of high-end jewellery heist was ‘only in the country five days’, court hears

Tom Tuite

An alleged burglar arrested during a Garda investigation into the theft of €50,000 worth of jewellery from a high-end Dublin jeweller has been remanded in custody.

Ionut Firica, 31, from Romania, was arrested Friday morning and appeared at Dublin District Court on Saturday.

Defence counsel Sam Friel informed Judge Catherine Ghent that his client "is only in the country five days" and defferring his bail application.

Mr Firica, who has been using an address on George's Street in Dublin, is charged with entering Bespoke Diamonds, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, as a trespasser to commit theft on April 25th.

Garda Niamh Dunne told Judge Ghent that the man was arrested at St Stephen's Green in the early hours of Friday, taken to Pearse Street station, and "made no reply" when charged.

The officer confirmed that she would object to his bail.

The accused, who has yet to indicate a plea, listened to the proceedings with the help of an interpreter and did not speak during the hearing.

Mr Friel BL, instructed by solicitor Stephen O'Mahony, told Judge Ghent his client was not applying for bail at this stage.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on May 2nd, and an interpreter was booked to attend the next hearing.

Legal aid was granted.

Mr Firica had been detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 for questioning until he was charged on Friday night and then held pending his court hearing.

Gardai sealed St. Stephen's Green Park to conduct a daylight search of the area.

At approximately 6am, they located a bag and its contents and the jewellery was recovered.

The charge against Mr Firica is under section 12 of the Theft and Fraud Act.

No further evidence was provided by the gardaí to support the objection to bail once the accused sought an adjournment and consented to go into custody.

Directions from the Director of Public Prosecution must be obtained.