Riot looter from Dundalk targeted second shop after stolen shoes didn’t fit

A Dublin riots looter from Dundalk, stole shoes from two different shops after he found that none of the shoes he took from the first shop fit him, a court has heard.

Lawyers for Andrew Agwu (25) said that he did not take part in any of the violent acts of the riots but got caught up in the looting that followed.

Agwu of Armagh Rd., Dundalk, Co Louth pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of burglary at Foot Locker stores on O'Connell Street and Mary Street on the evening of November 23, 2023.

Garda Aoife Kavanagh told Stephen Montgomery BL, prosecuting, that the riots developed out of the gathering of anti-immigration protesters at Dublin's Garden of Remembrance following an earlier incident. 

By 4.30pm the crowds had grown to the point that they blocked the Luas tram lines and garda assistance was sought. Gda Kavanagh said the crowds reached up to 500 at the height of the disorder and around 600 gardai were deployed to the scene.

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Objects were thrown by rioters resulting in injury to 13 garda members and five civilians. One garda member was seriously injured. Some 15 garda vehicles were damaged with two vehicles destroyed. Three Dublin Bus vehicles and one Luas tram were also completely destroyed.

Gda Kavanagh told the court that Agwu was captured on CCTV footage running with others into the first shop and going upstairs to a storage area where he grabbed three boxes of shoes.

He left the shop with the boxes and was later caught on camera entering the second shop and going into a storage unit and taking two boxes.

Rob Crowley BL, defending, told Judge Elma Sheahan that his client had travelled into the city centre earlier in the day to get a haircut. Disruptions to public transport caused by the riots meant he was unable to get home and he stood around watching the riots for a while before joining in with the looting, the court heard.

When he got to the first Footlocker shop, “fellow looters” told him there were no shoes left on the shop floor so he entered the shop via a back door and made his way upstairs to a storage area, the court heard.

One member of staff told the court that she doesn't feel safe anymore in work since the riots. She said on the night itself she felt terrified and “I was crying all the way home” and was worried about getting home safely.

Mr Crowley said when his client tried on the three pairs of stolen shoes none of them fitted him and he went to the second shop in the Ilac Centre. Agwu identified himself to gardai in November 2024 after they released 99 photos to the public of suspects involved in the riots or looting.

Asked why he did what he did, Agwu told gardai “stupidity”. The total value of the five pairs of shoes was estimated at €750 based on the average value of shoes in the shop, Gda Kavanagh said.

None of the shoes taken by Agwu were recovered. He has no previous convictions.

Mr Crowley told the court that his client is genuinely remorseful and is willing to gather €2,500 to offer as a token of his remorse.

Judge Sheahan adjourned finalisation of sentence to May 21 and remanded Agwu on continuing bail to that date.