17 testimonials handed in for cross-border criminal involved with notorious ATM gang

A man has been convicted at the Special Criminal Court following a trial relating to a series of ATM robberies across the border region. Daniel O'Callaghan, aged 31, of Crossmaglen, County Armagh, was found guilty on sixteen counts concerning thefts and attempted thefts at locations including Virginia, County Cavan, and Castleblayney, County Monaghan, during 2018 and 2019. Ms Justice Tara Burns determined that O'Callaghan was intimately involved in planning the offences, which were carried out by an organised gang using diggers to extract ATMs from walls. The court accepted identification evidence from gardaí and noted that DNA evidence supported their account. Over €438,000 was recovered from a premises in Moynalty, County Meath. A sentencing hearing took place on 4 March 2022, during which seventeen character testimonials were submitted on O'Callaghan's behalf. Ms Justice Burns indicated sentencing would be delivered on Monday. Three accomplices who pleaded guilty to the same offences received combined sentences of nineteen years and six months.