‘Cashpoint kid’ is jailed for theftsat ATMs in county

A man known as the 'Cashpoint Kid' in England for thefts from customers at ATM machines while he was a juvenile there, was sentenced to six years at Trim Circuit Court for similar offences in Co Meath.

Levers Zinca (26), Seancastle Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to four thefts of €600 each from customers at ATM machines outside branches of Bank of Ireland in Dunboyne, Ashbourne, and Trim.

The offences were committed on Christmas Eve 2015, 16th January 2016 and 26th January 2021. On each occasion, Zinca waited near the machine until his victim inserted their bank card and PIN number and then pretending to be begging moved in with a paper sheet or placard blocking the customer's view of the keyboard.

While the victim was distracted Zinca punched in €600 on the keypad and took the money before making off, a garda told prosecuting counsel Carl Hanahoe BL .

On three of the occasions, Zinca was accompanied by an accomplice.

In an impact statement read in court, a 75 year-old victim said she felt she had been targetted because of her age and added that she had been unable to sleep for a number of weeks after the incident and had not used a street side ATM machine since.

Another victim told gardai he had to ask his landlord for a rent deferral because of the theft, while a third said he had been left short of money that Christmas. The court heard that Zinca was granted bail in 2016 after being charged over thefts from three of the Meath ATM customers but went on to commit a succession of similar crimes in Germany, Belgium, and Denmark before he was arrested after the theft at a cashpoint in Trim earlier this year.

Zinca also had large number of convictions for similar type offences dating back to 2007 in the north of England and was currently serving time for thefts committed in Dublin and Wicklow.

Defence barrister James O'Brien BL told Judge Martina Baxter at an adjourned hearing that his client's family had compensation for his victims.

The barrister said that while a probation report identified his client at high risk of re-offending in the next 12 months it also indicated that he showed insight into his offending.

Judge Baxter noted there had been an element of pre-planning involved in the Meath offences as the defendant who lived in Dublin had 'clearly travelled' to the county.

The judge sentenced Zinca to a total of six years to run concurrently with the balance of his present sentence and with the final 18 months suspended provided he remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for 18 months from his release.