The 49-year-old man accused of carrying out three post office raids in the hope of getting money to travel to America to meet his fiancée will be spending Christmas in jail unless he can come up with a €5,000 surety and cash bail of €500.
Fintan Tindley, of Loughmahon Avenue, Mahon, Cork, appeared at Cork District Court by video link from prison and was remanded in custody until January 4 with consent to High Court bail.
His solicitor, Daithí Ó Donnabháin, informed Judge Olann Kelleher that Tindley was recently granted bail in the High Court bail.
“We are presently examining to see if we could comply with those conditions in terms of a surety and an address,” Mr Ó Donnabháin said.
The High Court set bail conditions that included a €5,000 independent surety and the lodgement of €500 cash.
Judge Olann Kelleher said the accused was required to appear in Cork District Court in person on January 4 if he got out of custody on bail.
Sergeant Gearóid Davis said in relation to the case that the prosecution was awaiting directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Tindley, who was employed as a HSE homecare assistant, is charged with robbery of South Douglas Road Post Office on November 11, attempted robbery of the same premises on November 18, and robbery of Ballintemple Post Office on November 16.
Det Garda Kevin Motherway said at the original bail hearing that it was alleged that the accused entered the South Douglas Road post office wearing a hat and mask and that he caught a 77-year-old customer and put a knife to his throat as he made a demand for money from behind the counter. He got away with €2,380 on that occasion.
In Ballintemple, he entered the post office with a similar concealment of his identity and grabbed a 44-year-old woman and put a knife to her throat and demanded money from staff before making off with €1,300.
In the third alleged incident on the South Douglas Road, a 44-year-old woman was grabbed but he ended up running away empty-handed when a panic alarm was triggered.
One of the grounds for the prosecution objecting to bail was the allegation that he was a flight risk as he had travelled to the United States twice this year to meet up with a woman he met online and to whom he had become engaged and was planning to visit again.
The detective said the accused told them he was “desperate to travel again to the United States to meet her”.
Mr Ó Donnabháin said the accused had no previous convictions of any kind.