Courts / Dublin / Report

Family burnt out of home, threatened with execution over drug debt

Date
2021-01-27

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

Cillian Cullen, 24, received a fully suspended five‑year prison sentence after pleading guilty to impeding the apprehension of a person in a failed gun‑point robbery that took place on 11 June 2018. Cullen joined his older brother Robert Cullen, 29, after the robbery, was present when the getaway car was set on fire, and then left with his brother in a car he had left nearby the night before. The court heard that Cullen's family had been threatened with violence and that they were under pressure due to Robert Cullen's drug debts. Judge Pauline Codd suspended the entire sentence on the basis of Cullen's lack of prior convictions, the exceptional pressures that led him to assist the perpetrators, and his low risk of reoffending as assessed by the Probation Service. The sentence was suspended on the condition that Cullen keep the peace and be of good behaviour for five years.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Family burnt out of home, threatened with execution over drug debt. Charges or matters: failed robbery; impeding the apprehension of a person. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

June 11, 2018 Hearing Or Sentence
2021-01-27 Publication

Case subjects

Cillian Cullen

Defendant

Charges: impeding the apprehension of a person (Alleged Or Contested)

Outcome: Judge Codd sentenced Cullen to five years imprisonment, but suspended the entirety of the sentence on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour for five years.

Robert Cullen

Co Accused

Charges: failed robbery (Alleged Or Contested)

Outcome: The court heard that Robert Cullen was sentenced in 2020 to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment for his role in the failed robbery.