Galway Advertiser 2007/2007_01_25/GA_2501_E1_018.pdf 

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18 N E W S

www.galwayadvertiser.ie

January 25 2007

Prison term for man who assaulted garda after using skimmed bank card
An Algerian man was sentenced to 17 months in prison at Galway District Court this week for using a stolen "skimmed" bank card on three occasions to obtain 350 cash from Dunne's Stores in Galway nearly a year ago. Ahcene Laledji (34), 12 Leinster Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, pleaded guilty at the last moment in court to using a bank card, which he knew to be false, to obtain cash and services by fraudulent means from staff at Dunne's Stores, Eyre Square, Galway, on February 18 last year. He also pleaded guilty to using the card to steal a total of 351 cash from three different till operators in the store on the same date and to assaulting Garda Jennifer Ryan as she went to arrest him for the fraud at Merchants Road, Galway, later that day. Inspector Marie Skehill told the court that Garda Ryan got a call to go to Dunne's Stores at 4.20pm on February 18 where staff told her a man had used a credit card to obtain cash back from staff working at three different cash registers within the store. Inspector Skehill said the laser card had originally been stolen from a Bank of Ireland customer. She said the accused had used the stolen card earlier that day to get cash back from two tills and had returned that afternoon to use it a third time to obtain more money. Garda Ryan took details of Laledji's description from staff and at 5pm she got a call from staff again that they had seen the accused head in the direction of Merchants Road. Garda Ryan pursued the accused down Merchants Road. Laledji threw away the credit card as he ran away from her. Garda Ryan caught up with Laledji and he turned on her, pushing her up against a wall and twisting her arm before running away from her again. Garda Ryan called for assistance and ran after the accused again. He was arrested moments later at the bottom of Merchants Road. Garda Ryan retraced the route Laledji had taken and found the stolen laser card on the ground, which he had dropped as he fled. The accused claimed he had bought the card in Dublin the day beforehand and it had been altered using another person's account details. In all, 351 had been taken from the woman's account. Inspector Skehill said there were 10 witnesses in court to give evidence as the accused had indicated he was contesting the charges. She said the witnesses included three Dunne's Stores staff and two people from Dublin. The inspector said Laledji had 28 previous convictions for mostly larcenies and frauds which had been committed in Tralee, Wicklow, and Dublin on various dates between 1998 and 2002. He had served various terms of imprisonment for some of the these offences, she said. Judge Mary Fahy noted the accused had spent a significant amount of time in prison for serious fraud offences in the last few years. Defence solicitor Adrian MacLynn said his client had paid 350 compensation, adding it was very hard to present a defence given his client's serious history of criminality. Mr MacLynn said Laledji had to fight for his status in this country on the grounds that one of his children was born here. The case, he said, had gone to the High Court and had been successfully fought to his client's satisfaction. The solicitor said his client had worked as a chef for a time but had run into financial difficulties at the time of these offences. He said Laledji had three children now, two of whom had been born in this country. Judge Mary Fahy said the accused had only pleaded guilty after seeing so many witnesses in court prepared to give evidence against him. The judge commended Garda Ryan for carrying out her duty in a vigilant and proper manner and for pursuing the accused on her own after the assault before assistance arrived on the scene. She said the accused knew well she was a garda when he twisted her arm and pushed her up against a wall as if she was of no importance. Judge Fahy sentenced Laledji to seven months in prison for using the stolen credit card and imposed a consecutive five-month sentence for assaulting Garda Ryan. She sentenced him to a further three-month consecutive sentence for stealing 105 from Dunne's Stores using the stolen credit card, and another two-month consecutive sentence for stealing another 130 from the store using the same card on the same date. A concurrent twomonth sentence was imposed on the remaining charge. Judge Fahy said that as the accused was being taken into custody the State would have to foot the 460 witnesses' expenses bill before the court. Leave to appeal the sentences was granted.

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