E-scooter robber jailed for six years over imitation-gun raids

Isabel Hayes

An e-scooter rider who carried out two daylight robberies in busy shops, pointing a realistic imitation handgun at terrified customers and staff, has been jailed for six years.

Anthony Kinlan (47) was also sentenced on Friday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his role in possessing thousands of euro worth of stolen property in his apartment at Custom Hall, Gardiner Street, Dublin 1.

Kinlan carried out a robbery at Paddy Power bookmakers at North Strand Road, Dublin 3, on the afternoon of February 21st 2024.

He held up the shop containing five customers and two employees with an imitation firearm before making off on his e-scooter with about €875 in cash.

Some of the customers ran outside as he left and witnessed him scooting to a nearby property and letting himself in, Detective Garda Damien Kildea told Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting.

Gardaí tracked him to the same address where they found Kinlan, who had changed his clothes, still present. They retrieved €800 of cash, which was returned to the business. Kinlan was charged and released on bail.

While on bail for this offence, Kinlan took part in a robbery of CeX video exchange store on Liffey Street a few months later on July 27th, 2024. Caroline Latham BL, prosecuting this offence, showed CCTV footage to the court of Kinlan arriving on his e-scooter with a co-accused.

Kinlan pointed a realistic imitation gun and shouted at a number of terrified customers in the shop while the co-accused, brandishing a hammer, grabbed money from an open safe behind the till.

The CCTV footage had audio which made the “fear and palpable tension all the more vivid”, Judge Orla Crowe noted.

The pair took €593 in cash, the court heard. The co-accused is still before the courts.

After gardaí identified Kinlan on CCTV footage, they searched his home, where they found an empty airgun box. He was again arrested, charged and released on bail.

The final incident before the court occurred on March 8, 2025, when gardaí searched Kinlan's home and found €12,075 worth of stolen goods, including flat-screen TVs, printers, and five bicycles.

Kinlan took trial dates for the three offences before a bench warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to turn up.

He later entered guilty pleas to two counts of robbery, one count of possession of an imitation firearm and one count of possessing stolen property.

He has 39 previous convictions.

Luigi Rea BL, defending, said Kinlan had chronic drug addiction and was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin from a young age.

He was drug-free for a 10-year period from around 2006, during which he learned embroidery and had a t-shirt business. He has since got clean from drugs while in custody.

A letter of apology was handed into court, and his partner, mother and brother were present to support him.

Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Crowe said the robberies must have been “genuinely terrifying” for the customers and staff involved. She set a sentence of seven and a half years and suspended the final 18 months on a number of conditions.