Courts / Carlow / Report

"Crime tourists" who carried out armed robbery on jewellery shop have jail time reduced on appeal

Date
2014-07-17

Stage
Appeal

Court
Dublin. At Carlow Circuit Criminal Court

Primary locality
Carlow Town

County
Carlow

Summary

In July 2012, three Lithuanian men – Edgaras Jurosiuniuys (24), Liutauras Meskauskas (27) and Andrius Bareikis (33) – carried out an armed robbery at Bramleys jewellers in Carlow. They entered with lump hammers, pepper spray and imitation hand guns, stole jewellery worth about €20,000 and fled in a Fiat Punto. The owner, Pat Bramley, was sprayed with pepper gas during the raid. The men were arrested shortly after and the stolen items were recovered near the motorway to Dublin. Judge Teehan sentenced Jurosiuniuys to five years for robbery and two years for assault, to run consecutively, and Meskauskas and Bareikis to seven years each. On appeal, the Criminal Court of Appeal reduced Jurosiuniuys's robbery term by one year and made it run concurrently with the assault term, giving him one year less in jail. Meskauskas and Bareikis each had one year cut from their seven‑year sentences. No portion of any sentence was suspended.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: "Crime tourists" who carried out armed robbery on jewellery shop have jail time reduced on appeal. Charges or matters: robbery; assault with pepper spray. Procedural stage: appeal

When:

April 2012 Incident
July 2012 Incident
2014-07-17 Publication

Why: At the three-judge Criminal Court of Appeal (CCA) today, in a submission by Richard Downey, it was argued that the sentence imposed on his client Jurosiuniuys was "disproportionate to the crime" because none of the sentence had been suspended. CNI source report

Case subjects

Andrius Bareikis

Appellant

Charges: robbery (Alleged Or Contested)

Outcome: All three accused had admitted the offences. while both Meskauskas and Bareikis had one year cut from their seven-year sentences.

Edgaras Jurosiuniuys

Appellant

Charges: robbery; assault with pepper spray (Alleged Or Contested)

Outcome: Jurosiuniuys had one year added to his five-year term for robbery – but this sentence will now run concurrently with his two-year term for assault, resulting in one year less in jail

Liutauras Meskauskas

Appellant

Charges: robbery (Alleged Or Contested)

Outcome: All three accused had admitted the offences. while both Meskauskas and Bareikis had one year cut from their seven-year sentences.