A carer and student jailed for violent burglary and theft of €34k at OAPs – News

A carer has been jailed for eight years for preying on six vulnerable pensioners he had previously cared for, stealing €34,000 and carrying out violent burglaries with a knife-wielding university student.

Precious Moyo, 38, originally from Zimbabwe, who lives at Athlone Accommodation Center in Lissywollen, Athlone, Co Westmeath, was sentenced at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday.

His accomplice, engineering student Yamen Alhamada, 20, who was from Syria but had an address of Warren Grove, Boyle, Co Roscommon, was sentenced to six years in prison.

They had pleaded guilty to a string of burglaries and aggravated burglary, which Judge Keenan Johnson described as heartbreaking and callous.

“Keep them locked up for a long time because they’re bad,” were the words of one of the victims.

Judge Keenan Johnson said mother-of-three Moyo had worked for a home help charity for a year, where she gained “exclusive” information about the households of six elderly men and women aged 73 to 89 with serious health problems.

Judge Johnson said he could not express his horror at the pair’s actions and stressed the crimes were callous, had broken the victims’ trust, left them alone, defenseless and terrified.

He accepted that Moyo was the main culprit of premeditated crimes representing the basis of the trust and that Moyo had abused his position in an extremely egregious manner.

His crimes were committed after Moyo left an institution following complaints.

Sentencing, Judge Johnson said the court needed to send a message that it was clear the victims were traumatized and their “crime spree” had resulted in permanent life changes, with some no longer able to live independently and others living in “constant fear”.

Their crimes damaged the reputation of genuine refugees, the vast majority of whom he stressed were law-abiding and contributing to Irish society. He added that he did not want people to highlight this case as indicative of refugees.

Relieved victims and their families watched the hearing via video link.

His accomplice Alhamada, who came to Ireland with his family to escape the war in his country, claimed to gardaí that he went with Moyo because he was “interested in black magic called juju and if he did what he said he would be protected”.

Judge Johnson also recently ordered victims to be awarded €35,000 from fines imposed in an unrelated health and safety investigation.

Probation reports and character references of the duo, who had no previous convictions, were presented to the court.

The defense implored Judge Johnson to note that early guilty pleas prevented a pivotal trial involving nearly 100 witnesses and further traumatization of the elderly victims.

The lawyer argued that the court could give a 30 percent reduction in the sentence because they were remorseful for attacking and “terrorizing” the victims and had hopes of rehabilitation.

In her mitigation application, the court heard Moyo moved to Ireland five years ago to escape a violent marriage and that isolation from family led to depression and drug addiction, and that she “had no thought for the victims and what this twisted perversion would do to them”.

The death of his father when he was 13 years old also affected him, allegations that he was abused by the older men in his neighborhood emerged, and he experienced serious health problems.

Alhamada experienced the trauma of the war in Syria in his childhood. After moving to Ireland with his family, he performed well at school, played GAA and football, and went to university in Athlone.

But he was “out of control” due to his addiction to cannabis and alcohol, which led to a €12,000 drug debt along with pressure to pay, and he “had no thought for the victims of these crimes when he committed these crimes”.

Neither defendant addressed the court or showed any emotion.

One of the victims died three months after confessing his crime.

Between June 14 and September 8 last year there were four incidents at housing estates in Athlone and one at a house about five kilometers outside the town.

The judge praised the “massive” and “painstaking” investigation that led to their arrests.

The investigation involved collecting key CCTV footage from various locations to track his movements around the town and analyze fingerprints and DNA. In some of the video footage, Moyo was seen holding wads of money in a shop.

Garda Detectives Niall Cogavin and Kenneth Nerney outlined the evidence against the pair.

The court heard the victims were traumatised; three were attacked in their home, with the former caretaker warning one “menacingly”: “We’ll be back.”