A man used an imitation firearm made from two copper pipes to hold up his local shop, a court has heard.

Paul Beirnes (45) and an accomplice were also armed with a large knife and a baton. During the raid they shouted and threatened shop assistant David Sheridan and struck him with the baton.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Mr Sheridan suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and the stress of the robbery caused him to “freeze” and left him barely able to talk at one point.

Mr Sheridan told gardaí he believed the men were armed with a full length shotgun. Garda Marcus Rowantree told the court this was actually a crude imitation firearm made up of two copper pipes taped together.

Beirnes’ accomplice told the victim he would shoot him in the legs. He also pointed the weapon at the victim’s groin and told him, “you’re going to lose them”.

Beirnes, of St Ronan’s Way, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to robbery and false imprisonment at the Centra, Neilstown shopping centre, Clondalkin on September 24th, 2016.

Terrified

Judge Pauline Codd adjourned the case to next May for sentence.

Garda Rowantree told the court both men held the imitation gun and pointed it at the victim at different points during the robbery. The victim recognised Beirnes as a long-standing customer of the shop.

The other raider pushed the victim into a back office and was shouting at him “you’re going to die before we leave”.

The victim was terrified and believed he was going to get a very bad beating.

At one stage Beirnes had the baton and struck the victim in the arm and leg. The other man hit him in the face with the piping.

The raiders filled shopping bags with €7,038 worth of cigarettes, lottery tickets, and bottles of wine. They told the victim to stay in the back office until they were gone and he then hit the panic alarm.

Gardaí picked Beirnes up shortly afterwards near the shop. He was holding four Centra shopping bags with cigarettes and wine. The lottery tickets were never recovered, the court heard.

Beirnes has 29 previous convictions including robbery in 1999 and a more recent one for attempted robbery.

Tara Burns SC, defending, said that he was addicted to drugs from the age of 17. He got himself off drugs and set up a horse trading business.

When he later relapsed into drugs, he sold off 51 horses to finance his addiction.