A 42-year-old man “ripped” a bereaved mother’s gold medal dedicated to her deceased son from her neck when he targeted vulnerable Dublin 4 women, a court has heard.
Romanian construction worker Grigore Malanca, who moved to Ireland in January and lives at Walkinstown Crescent, Dublin 12, appeared at Dún Laoghaire District Court on Monday and was held pending a €500 bail lodgement.
The father of one is accused of robbery of a 75-year-old woman on July 28th in Donnybrook of her €800 gold necklace which had a heart with the letter M pendant.
He was also charged with attempted robbery of a 62-year-old woman on September 12th in Sandymount.
Objecting to bail, Garda Aisling Shannon said the first incident involved the elderly woman at her front gate.
The court heard the accused tried to approach the woman after performing a U-turn in his car and ripped her necklace from her.
The garda believed she had been targeted outside her own home and it was captured on CCTV.
The court also heard that the necklace had significant sentimental value because it was a memento with the letter M for her deceased son.
The court heard that in the more recent alleged incident, he was in a hoodie when he got out of his car, ran across the road, and attempted to physically pull off the other woman’s necklace.
However, it was alleged he stopped when motorists started beeping at him.
The court heard he left in a Land Rover Freelander and, when arrested at his home, made no admissions. His car was seized.
Legal aid was granted to Malanca, who did not address the court.
Cross-examined by defence solicitor Andrew Vallely about hearsay evidence, as the complainants were not in court, the garda said that the women were in fear.
She also said the accused had a child and an ex-partner in Romania, and she did not think that Malanca had ties to the jurisdiction.
Another reason cited in the bail objections was that the accused knew where the women lived.
The garda voiced concerns that he “poses a danger to vulnerable older women” alone in the Dublin 4 area and that was his motive.
She agreed with Mr Vallely that his client had no prior convictions, warrant history or pending cases.
Addressing “flight risk “concerns, he argued that his client, who had the presumption of innocence, would be “grounded in this jurisdiction” by surrendering his passport. He contended that his client had ties to this country through his work and had been living here on a sustained basis.
The solicitor submitted that his client was untested in terms of showing he could comply with bail conditions and asked the judge to note his prior unblemished record.
Judge Fottrell said the charges were serious but held that the court could impose conditions. He set bail and ordered the accused to sign on daily at his local garda station, surrender his passport and not apply for a replacement or other travel documents, be contactable by phone and stay out of Dublin 4.
Mr Malanca, who listened to the proceedings with the aid of an interpreter, will appear again on September 21st next.