Man jailed for stealing pension from wheelchair user who believed he was home carer

Patrick McNamee (42) was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after he admitted stealing €200 from a 69-year-old wheelchair user at Robinson’s Court, Cork Street on September 24, 2021.

Passing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday, Judge Orla Crowe said it was a “particularly callous, targeted and deliberate” offence.

She said there was “high moral culpability” and that McNamee had preyed on a vulnerable older man by letting himself in, uninvited, to the man’s house.

At an earlier hearing, Garda Mark Kelly told counsel for the State that McNamee called to the man’s house the day before the theft and let himself in through an unlocked door.

He made the man get into his wheelchair, then pushed him down to the local Spar shop. He accompanied him to the counter to collect his pension.

Staff at the Spar said the pension was only paid the following day, Friday, so McNamee pushed the man home again and left.

A genuine home carer who called to the house later that day became suspicious when the older man told her that a different home carer had visited earlier.

McNamee called again to the victim’s house on the Friday, to find that the man had already withdrawn his pension and had put the €200 in cash down the seat of his armchair.

McNamee of Glovers’ Court, York Street, Dublin, took the cash and left.

The victim told the genuine home carer when they arrived later the same day and the matter was reported to gardaí.

McNamee has 190 previous convictions, of which 56 are from the Circuit Court, including multiple offences for robbery, attempted robbery, theft, handling of stolen goods and the misuse of drugs.

The court heard that when arrested by gardaí, McNamee said he couldn’t remember the incident as he was taking drugs at the time.

The stolen money was never recovered and the injured party did not make a victim impact statement.

Luigi Rea BL, defending McNamee, said his client apologised to the victim and the court.

“I am getting a bit too old for this now,” McNamee told gardaí, adding, “I am in and out of jail, I just want a chance to change my life.”

Mr Rea submitted a prison governor’s report saying McNamee has behaved impeccably within the prison system and had achieved enhanced prisoner status.

Mr Rea said addiction to heroin had destroyed his client’s life but that McNamee was doing his best in custody and had undertaken several courses.

A letter was submitted from the Rialto Community Drugs Team saying McNamee had managed to become drug-free but had relapsed following the death of his brother.

Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of six years but reduced this to a four-and-a-half-year sentence in light of McNamee’s personal and mitigating circumstances.

The sentence was backdated to June 26 last, when McNamee went into custody.