The burglar who uses taxis to collect him from break-ins

Wurly

Taken from today's Irish Times

“I think I must have a bit of the kleptos in me; I’d rob anything,” says Ronny, a drug addict and by his own admission a serial burglar and robber in his late 30s, whose name has been changed for this piece.

He first got into trouble with the Garda before the age of 10, and more than 200 convictions and nearly three decades later he’s still “on the rob”. He says it’s common for people to leave substantial quantities of cash in their homes.

“You find it [cash] anywhere; under the bed, in a biscuit tin, a coffee jar. I got a roll of notes once in an ice cream box in the freezer; no ice cream in the f***ing thing, just cash. Sometimes they even leave it out on a counter . . . I don’t do old people’s gaffs, but if you do the money is always under the bed.”

Modern security features are not a major hindrance to breaking in, he says.

“There’s no door or window you can’t get past with the tools; a Philips screwdriver, a jemmy bar, a hammer. When you get in, if the alarm goes off you’ve two or three minutes [to] fly around the gaff looking for the money. If you have a car with you and if the gaff is not in an estate, you might stay a bit longer; get the plasma , the PlayStation, Xbox, all the games and all that. If you don’t leave prints forget about it, the Garda’ll never get you.

“If the gaff is a bit out in the country and the Garda station is miles away or closed down you have loads of time to load up the car if you have one. You just go up to a gaff, knock on the front door and if someone answers say you want a drink of water or water for the car. If nobody answers, just go round the back and get in.

“A couple of times . . . I called a taxi and got them to collect me at the gaff. You tell them you’re moving and you want to put a bit of gear in the car, the plasma and that. And when they come you put the gear in and they drive you off. They have to know what you’re up to; they’re not thick. But you pay them the fare; you might give them a few quid extra to keep their mouth shut.”

Ronny spoke to The Irish Times last week at a facility for homeless, drug addicted and alcoholic men. He says he needs to keep stealing to feed his drug habit. He describes himself as “a creeper as well as a burglar”.

“You go into a cafe or a shop, whatever it is, looking for [shoppers’] bags for the purses, wallets or the iPhones. If you get one of the iPhones in a burglary or in a handbag, that’s €100 you’ll get for that. If you do a gaff and you get an iPad, you’re looking at €200. You can sell them in dodgy little phone shops cos they’ll clean them up and get even more for them. Sometimes if they know you’re really strung out they’ll offer you less money. They’re bastards they are.”

Ronny insists he is not without some sympathy for those who houses he breaks into, adding that at present burglary is a big lure for petty criminals. “Course I’d have a bit of sympathy – you’re robbing their stuff, man. You’re going into their gaff and just taking it so, yeah, you might think of them a bit. But you just get in and out.

“You’re looking for money and jewellery; just get the cash . . . You can sell the jewellery, you’d sell it anywhere. Moorcroft bowls are a big seller as well. Just go up to Ballymun or somewhere. There’s loads of people up there owe money to the credit union or the loan sharks. You bring something up there that they know they’ll never be able to get unless they buy it from you at a knock-down price and they’ll give you money for it, f***ing sure they will.”

While he says organised criminals and those who work in groups will plan burglaries and carefully select targets, his crimes are more opportunistic and spur-of-the-moment.

“You know the places; Foxrock, Blackrock, Monkstown, Dún Laoghaire, all over there. You never rob in your own area. You never rob from the working class area you’re from; no way. If they catch you doing it they’ll break you up or they’ll cut you up.

“Take Ballymun, even. It’s right beside Santry; it’s only a wall between the two of them. The burglars do be saying, ‘Come on, they’re all bleedin’ loaded in Santry.’ But they’re probably not, man. But you go up there anyway to try and get a bit of money.

“If it’s old windows in a house you just pop them open. If it’s new windows it’s harder, but you just use a jemmy bar and get the door or the window popped open, you’ll do it if you pull hard enough. The sliding patio doors around the back, you just bust the lock with a screwdriver, something like that. And once it moves you just lift the sliding door off the rails. You lift it and lean it against the wall beside you, real quiet. ‘Thank you very much, in ya go.’”

Ronny began thieving when he was “five or six”, he says. “Me Ma left me with her best friend to look after me, then her best friend was stabbed to death – I seen it happening. Then I stayed in that house with the other people from the family. They’d have me wheeling shopping out of the shopping centre without paying, food and all that stuff. I was about five or six.

“Then when I got a bit older, you’d go into the shops and have a competition; see who can rob the most cans of Impulse. You’d be putting them down your tracksuit legs, up your sleeves, everywhere. You’d come out and everyone would count them all up to see who won. The winner got, well the winner got nothing, but you could say ‘I got the most cans of Impulse’. Stupid when you think about it.”

He says despite spending time in prison many times for crimes including burglary and dealing drugs, he has never reformed. “Since I seen my Ma’s mate getting stabbed to death my life has been a disaster, chaos . . . One place after another as a kid, all over the place.

“The people who help me in court now, some of them were around when I was only 10 or less, more than 20 or 30 years ago; they were in the Children’s Court then trying to look after you. I was JLO’d hundreds of times.

“I never knew me Da, never seen him, don’t know who he is. At first I used to be robbing for the people I was living with, then for drink for meself, for a long time for drink. Now it’s the drugs, this ages; burgling for it, ya know?”

Its stories like this that make me sick to my stomach. My mother is living home alone and is hard of hearing and sight impaired. I dread to think of her being burgled. How this f*cker can oh so casually break into people's homes so that he can feed his drug habit is beyond me. Jesus this boils my blood. Ever thought of getting help for your drug addiction perhaps??:mad:

El Guapo!

Scumbag.

He first got into trouble with the Garda before the age of 10, and more than 200 convictions and nearly three decades later he’s still “on the rob”

Why is he still on the streets with over 200 convictions??

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Ah the Irish entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.

He's a quick witted probelm solver, we could use a guy like him in Gubbermint.

amacca

Dean09 wrote: »

Scumbag.



Why is he still on the streets with over 200 convictions??

Why indeed?....you would think some harsher punishment would be in order, you know...to act as a deterrent

3rdDegree

Dean09 wrote: »

Scumbag.

He first got into trouble with the Garda before the age of 10, and more than 200 convictions and nearly three decades later he’s still “on the rob”

Why is he still on the streets with over 200 convictions??

In Ireland its 300 strikes and you're out.

SocSocPol

Dean09 wrote: »

Scumbag.



Why is he still on the streets with over 200 convictions??

Why did he not recieve any help when he was 10?

Where To

Any taxi driver that lifts that cnut is worse than him.:mad:

amacca

SocSocPol wrote: »

Why did he not recieve any help when he was 10?

Perhaps I'm a cynic or all to quick to join a lynch mob but do you honestly think it it would actually have helped?

phasers

I don't do old people's gaffs

Man gotta have a code

ringadingding

I don't think ronnie exists, yeah ronnie scumbags do exist, but this one doesn't.
Me thinks

wp_rathead

taxiLAD

mikemac1

Country has gone to hell since The_Citizen left us

Where did he go anyway?

Someone send up a beacon

Gummy Panda

Modern Robin Hood. Robs from the rich (santry) and gives to the poor (taxi drivers)lol

SusieBlue

The thing about the 200 convictions is that he may only have committed a few crimes.

For example, he may have been charged with breaking and entering, trespass to land, trespass to goods, negligence, aggravated robbery, assault etc in one night.

I'm not making excuses, just trying to explain that he probably didn't commit 200 separate crimes.

Either way he's a low life scumbag and I can't understand why he isn't locked up all the same.

girl in the striped socks

Ronnie better not find himself in my house uninvited.
I'd like to think I wouldn't injure or kill a burglar but in reality when it comes down to it , it's going to be him or me.
I'd back myself to win that battle. Although the thought of some scumbag bleeding out on my nice floor kinda repulsed me.

MadsL

At the risk of starting 'that' debate guess what I can legally do if I meet Ronnie in my gaff in the US. Let's just say it potentially would not end well for Ronnie.

whatdoicare

It sickening to think that scumbags like that actually realise they are hurting the people they are robbing from - I always thought they had this idea that they were the poor victim and robbing from us didn't affect us at all - rob from the rich kinda thinking.
It seems to be that bit worse to think they realise they are robbing from people that can't afford to be robbed and that they can still go ahead and do it anyway.
You would have to be a special kind of sick in the head to be able to make that okay in your head.
If someone has 200 convictions they shouldn't be walking around free- they should be locked up and branded "unfixable", no hope of parole, no nothing. That's 200 people that have had their lives severely ruined by this asshat. I don't get why it's any other way.

Witcher

I've never understood the whole knock and see if anyone is in, if they're not..rob them thing. I hardly ever answer the door if I don't know who it is and others I know do the same thing so hopefully someday that strategy will work out badly for them.

Keith186

We need penalty points brought in for repeat offending scum like this, even just for violent crime and theft.

Set the points for different crimes, 15 points or whatever in a 3 year period and you get 3 years behind bars with no parole (or Teee Rrrrrr' as they would pronounce it through their nasal passage!) & no time off for good behaviour.

There should be a strict rule that the 3 years cannot be concurrent with any other sentence.

Concurrent sentencing is a joke and could be said to promote crime. If you commit an armed robbery with a needle you may as well jack a car or bike on the way out to help get away cos you won't get any extra time if you're caught. It's no deterrent then and it increases your chance of getting away.
=================================

Serious whiff of this article too. There's a fair few ex garda taxi drivers who would know this cúnt is a thieving junkie if he asked for a lift who would shop him in.
Good few taxi drivers would rat him out I'd say, even if he did tip well. So obvious he wouldn't be a junkie moving from a gaf in Foxrock to Ballymun, no one could believe that.

The_Thing

I hope he gets a bullet between the two eyes at the next house he attempts to burgle.

yoho_ahoy

i was burgled once.i was in the house one week the lights were on upstairs. i switched off the alarm put on the tv.
i heard faint footsteps upstairs presumed it was next door, turned down the tv heard a definite footstep, called upstairs thought it was the landlady.
i knew when i saw a set of tracksuit bottoms running down the stairs it wasn't her. i was in the sitting room he could of ran out the front door but he chose to turn into the sitting room.
he had his face covered with my pillow case and used the other to hold my flat mates laptop. he shouted at me for car keys i couldn't speak he spotted my hand bag on the dining room table and up ended it and took my purse. i ran out of the house and started screaming.
it was ten o'clock at night and a fourteen year old girl came over. i had my phone in my jacket and called the police.
the robber ran straight out the front door and into the night. the guards were lovely and were on the scene while i was still on the phone to the operater. as soon as i said he was wearing gloves i could see the disappointment on the guards face.
he stole all my money and i can't stay in a house on my own.
i pray one day he will rob the wrong house and get his hole opened with an all mighty kick.

Stained Class

Scum like that need to be lowered into an industrial mincer & fed to the animals in Dublin Zoo

eth0

Stained Class wrote: »

Scum like that need to be lowered into an industrial mincer & fed to the animals in Dublin Zoo

The animals wouldnt eat it, years of heroin usage wouldnt do the quality of the meat any good id say

Rayne Wooney

yoho_ahoy wrote: »

i was burgled once.i was in the house one week the lights were on upstairs. i switched off the alarm put on the tv.
i heard faint footsteps upstairs presumed it was next door, turned down the tv heard a definite footstep, called upstairs thought it was the landlady.
i knew when i saw a set of tracksuit bottoms running down the stairs it wasn't her. i was in the sitting room he could of ran out the front door but he chose to turn into the sitting room.
he had his face covered with my pillow case and used the other to hold my flat mates laptop. he shouted at me for car keys i couldn't speak he spotted my hand bag on the dining room table and up ended it and took my purse. i ran out of the house and started screaming.
it was ten o'clock at night and a fourteen year old girl came over. i had my phone in my jacket and called the police.
the robber ran straight out the front door and into the night. the guards were lovely and were on the scene while i was still on the phone to the operater. as soon as i said he was wearing gloves i could see the disappointment on the guards face.
he stole all my money and i can't stay in a house on my own.
i pray one day he will rob the wrong house and get his hole opened with an all mighty kick.

Makes me wonder what I'd do if somone broke in, thinking about it now I'd be fcuked.. not many weapons to choose from upstairs!
Anyone have a plan of action if a break in happens? Call the Gards and wait 15 minutes at which point the burglar would be long gone

Stained Class

eth0 wrote: »

The animals wouldnt eat it, years of heroin usage wouldnt do the quality of the meat any good id say

Hadn't thought of that.

So much for the '3 strikes & your'e catfood' edict then..

pawrick

My mothers house was robbed by a guy who was around 16/17 at the time a few years back. She was in her 60's at the time and was recovering from an operation. She woke up to see him going through her hand bag at the side of her bed but luckily he ran off.

He had broken in to 3 other houses in the same street that night and the guards were actually interviewing people in the first house when he climbed out of our place. He was caught that night but kept at it over the next few years. He might still be alive today if he served a proper sentence instead of going in and out of gaol and getting more involved with criminals who were a lot better at it then him. I don't feel sorry for him though as I know lots of people who had worse lives then he had but made better choices when they were adults.

ArtSmart

can't understand why he just didn't grow up in a nicer environment?

these guys, with their 'I wanna be raised by thieves n lowlifes' attitude.

that bloody attitude needs to change - now!!

at least in the states, they have solved the crime problem by giving no messin harsh sentences - and the death penalty (oh, and the deterrent of home owners having guns in their house, has also contributed significantly to the low crime rates in the usa.)



(to save time to-ing n fro-ing, yes it's terrible, yes i'd go nuts if someone broke into my folks home, or my home, but ffs people, try engaging the brain a little, huh?)

I know someone who had a taxi wait while he robbed a place. He's out again which is nice.

lightspeed

girl in the striped socks wrote: »

Ronnie better not find himself in my house uninvited.
I'd like to think I wouldn't injure or kill a burglar but in reality when it comes down to it , it's going to be him or me.
I'd back myself to win that battle. Although the thought of some scumbag bleeding out on my nice floor kinda repulsed me.

How much does a prisoner cost the state. I think i read here on boards before a figure of €40,000. Im not sure of that though.
Im any case, it must cost thousands to keep this scumbag alive once inprisoned. There are are children who starve to death albeit in foreign lands but still it makes a fairly illogical and inaccurate argument for anybody to oppose the death penalty for such low lifes.
People say they oppose the death penalty but at the same time, they are outraged when they hear of people with over 200 convictions out on the street. You cant have it both ways.
If you can then why are things the way they are?

wp_rathead

ArtSmart wrote: »

at least in the states, they have solved the crime problem by giving no messin harsh sentences - and the death penalty (oh, and the deterrent of home owners having guns in their house, has also contributed significantly to the low crime rates in the usa.)

lightspeed wrote:

People say they oppose the death penalty but at the same time, they are outraged when they hear of people with over 200 convictions out on the street. You cant have it both ways.

anybody who calls a burglar scum and then advocates the death sentence is a f**king hypocrite

D1stant

wprathead wrote: »

anybody who calls a bugler scum and then advocates the death sentence is a f**king hypocrite

I know its not a nice souinding instrument, but death? harsh

bagpipes on the other hand...

wp_rathead

Meant burglar lol

brummytom

I'd be amazed if 'Ronnie' was real.

OnTheCounter

If I come out of my bedroom at 2am and find Ronnie and his screwdriver on my landing...

How far can I go legally?

the_syco

wprathead wrote: »

anybody who calls a burglar scum and then advocates the death sentence is a f**king hypocrite

How do you figure that?

Someone steals from people.

Gets jailed.

Gets out.

Steals from people, get's jailed, gets out, steals from an old person, pushes them out of the way, breaks their hip, gets jailed, gets out, steals from people...

Jail fixes some people, others just come out still fcuked in the head. Aside from death, do you have any ideas that doesn't cost the state a few hundred thousand a year?

the_syco

OnTheCounter wrote: »

How far can I go legally?

Are you planning on calling the cops, or not?

BOF666

lightspeed wrote: »

How much does a prisoner cost the state. I think i read here on boards before a figure of €40,000. Im not sure of that though.
Im any case, it must cost thousands to keep this scumbag alive once inprisoned. There are are children who starve to death albeit in foreign lands but still it makes a fairly illogical and inaccurate argument for anybody to oppose the death penalty for such low lifes.
People say they oppose the death penalty but at the same time, they are outraged when they hear of people with over 200 convictions out on the street. You cant have it both ways.
If you can then why are things the way they are?

Apparently it was just under €80,000 in 2009, I can't imagine that dropping too much since then.

The lethal injection they use in the US is fairly cheap, but all death row prisoners can go to the supreme court to appeal their case, so it actually costs a fortune having them there - 2 or 3 times more than a life sentence prisoner costs them afaik.

wp_rathead

the_syco wrote: »

Aside from death, do you have any ideas that doesn't cost the state a few hundred thousand a year?

So we kill people to save the state money?
I'd rather not live in a country that does that

miller50841

OnTheCounter wrote: »

If I come out of my bedroom at 2am and find Ronnie and his screwdriver on my landing...

How far can I go legally?

Reasonable force;)
Means if you feel threatened and can't run away use what force is necessary to preserve your safety (life)

Now saying that it is hard for anyone including myself what you could do on the day in that second you have to decide what you must do in the situation.

I do hope if ronnie is real he will get what should be coming to him and I honestly hope I would be up for sorting out anyone if they ever came into MY HOME.

OnTheCounter

the_syco wrote: »

Are you planning on calling the cops, or not?

i would call, there are no swamps nearby.

miller50841

If anyone ever decides not to use the banks to hold their cash they should wire up a metal box to the power supply ronnie be in for a bit of a shock may need some new bottoms and runners.

Wonder does he dress in all black addidas:cool:

miller50841

OnTheCounter wrote: »

i would call, there are no swamps nearby.

Bring up the mountains tie to a tree

OnTheCounter

Death penalty when you think of the Dundons sounds appealing as they still run the drugs from prison and will never reform but then where do you draw the line? Lad gets drunk, drives over a child and kills them... Does he get the needle? Dodgy builder uses cheap materials and wall falls on someone killing them... Needle?

Certain judges have shown themselves to be out of touch with reality, I dont want those people having the power of life and death.

Cookie_Monster

brummytom wrote: »

I'd be amazed if 'Ronnie' was real.

I'd be amazed if there weren't several thousand people in Ireland exactly like him

Cookie_Monster

OnTheCounter wrote: »

Death penalty when you think of the Dundons sounds appealing as they still run the drugs from prison and will never reform but then where do you draw the line? Lad gets drunk, drives over a child and kills them... Does he get the needle? Dodgy builder uses cheap materials and wall falls on someone killing them... Needle?

Certain judges have shown themselves to be out of touch with reality, I dont want those people having the power of life and death.

anyone with over 100 convictions would seem a reasonable start to me

OnTheCounter

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

anyone with over 100 convictions would seem a reasonable start to me

that would almost be on a par with ethnic cleansing, half the male traveller population would be on death row before their 30th.

batistuta9

whatdoicare wrote: »

It sickening to think that scumbags like that actually realise they are hurting the people they are robbing from - I always thought they had this idea that they were the poor victim and robbing from us didn't affect us at all - rob from the rich kinda thinking.
It seems to be that bit worse to think they realise they are robbing from people that can't afford to be robbed and that they can still go ahead and do it anyway.
You would have to be a special kind of sick in the head to be able to make that okay in your head.

you don't need to be any "special kind of sick in the head" at all, they want the easy money so they go and get it

are people a "special kind of sick in the head" because the wear clothes that are made in sweat factories, or eat chocolate that was produced by cocoa beans gathered by children?

shantolog

He is right in one sense though, if you rob from your own area you are dead.

I remember seeing a sign on a local shop wall saying something to the effect...

"House robbed on X street on 15th, music equipment taken, don't want the stuff back, just a name, 100 Euro reward"

I'm sure he paid that 100 to somebody...:D

fasttalkerchat

You never rob from the working class area you’re from; no way. If they catch you doing it they’ll break you up or they’ll cut you up.

Community leaches are best dealt with within the community. He is advocating his own kneecapping there!

fasttalkerchat

OnTheCounter wrote: »

If I come out of my bedroom at 2am and find Ronnie and his screwdriver on my landing...

How far can I go legally?

He lunged at you, didn't he?...

ArtSmart

ArtSmart wrote: »

can't understand why he just didn't grow up in a nicer environment?

these guys, with their 'I wanna be raised by thieves n lowlifes' attitude.

that bloody attitude needs to change - now!!

at least in the states, they have solved the crime problem by giving no messin harsh sentences - and the death penalty (oh, and the deterrent of home owners having guns in their house, has also contributed significantly to the low crime rates in the usa.)



(to save time to-ing n fro-ing, yes it's terrible, yes i'd go nuts if someone broke into my folks home, or my home, but ffs people, try engaging the brain a little, huh?)

wprathead wrote: »

anybody who calls a burglar scum and then advocates the death sentence is a f**king hypocrite

sometimes it's useful to allow a connection to exist between your eyes and your brain when reading a post.

it's tricky, but it's often worth the sharp pain