A Romanian man who stole almost €2,000 from “vulnerable” people at Dublin ATMs has been sentenced to four years and six months.
The Circuit Criminal Court heard that “serial offender” Levers Zinca (31) targeted two women in their 80s, including a nun, as well as a wheelchair-bound man and a man with limited sight.
Prosecuting counsel, Eimear Delargy BL, told the court that Levers, who has an address in Dublin 8, distracted his victims with leaflets and has 18 previous convictions in Ireland, mostly for the same type of offending,
The accused also has criminal convictions from the Netherlands and Germany, but denies convictions recorded in Belgium.
When the accused was arraigned before Judge Cephas Power at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this afternoon, he pleaded guilty to five of the six outstanding offences but denied one count, involving €700 taken from a Chinese man at a Bank of Ireland ATM, on the basis that the amount alleged was untrue.
Speaking to defending counsel, Keith Spencer BL, Zinca indicated he had pleaded not guilty, “because the amount he says there is not true.” After a consultation with Mr Spencer, the accused accepted the charge and changed his plea to one of guilty.
The court heard that Zinca was arrested in January 2026 and has been in custody since. The offence carries a maximum of 10 years.
Ms Delargy, aided by Garda Oisín Burke, told the court that between July and December 2025, Zinca targeted people using ATMs in Dundrum, Capel Street, Finglas, Walkinstown and the city centre. He approached his victims from the side or behind, held up a leaflet or map to cover the ATM screens, and pressed buttons to withdraw cash, often before the victim realised what had happened.
Ms Delargy said the thefts involved seven injured parties totalling €1,940, and that a number of victims were vulnerable because of age or disability.
She told the court that an 80-year-old woman at Dundrum Town Centre was robbed of €200 after Zinca approached her and tried to show her a leaflet before she told him to “go away quite loudly”. The court heard that the accused was so persistent in interferring wth the woman that secuirty staff had to remove him from the premises, but before he managed to take the money.
An 83-year-old nun was targeted at a Bank of Ireland ATM on O’Connell Street, Dublin. Ms Delargy said that the elderly nun had used the machine furthest from the door inside the bank for security reasons but was approached by Zinca, who covered the screen and used his hand to type in a withdrawal amount. He then pretended to speak to another customer as the card was ejected before snatching €200.
Ms Delargy said that the nun “loudly told him to go away” and didn’t realise what had happened until she checked her balance and noticed the missing amount.
Garda Burke said that the accused had “loitered around” the ATMs to “target a vulnerable injured party.”A visually impaired Filipino man in his 60s was robbed of €220 on the 9th of August 2025 after Zinca approached him and put a “map of Dublin” over the ATM screen. The victim said that the accused spoke to him, but he could not understand what he was saying and told him to “go away”.
Ms Delargy said that after the incident was reported to Gardaí, the accused was recognised by Garda David Chapman “from a Gript Media news report” and Gardaí realised that the offending was “occurring in a number of locations”. The theft was captured on CCTV from AIB Capel Street, the court heard.
On the 10th of August, a wheelchair-bound man was targeted on Main Street, Finglas, when Zinca approached him and distracted him with a sheet of paper before taking €200 from the ATM in a similar manner.
Unable to chase the accused, the victim placed a 999 call, which led to the identification of the accused by Garda Burke.
On the 29th of September 2025, a Chinese woman was targeted at AIB Capel Street by a man holding a pamphlet and “mumbling” words she could not understand. When Judge Power enquired as to whether this woman had any particular vulnerabilities, Ms Delargy said that she did not, although she was a “foreign national”.
As he drew the paper away, the woman said she could see cash inside the pamphlet and said, “Get away! Help! Help! Help!” and that when she went to grab the cash, Zinca scrunched it up in the paper and put it in his mouth before escaping with the €220.
A 45-year-old Irish woman was approached at a Bank of Ireland ATM in Drimnagh when Zinca produced a purple leaflet and he “started grumbling and asking her for money for food” repeatedly, Ms Delargy said.
The woman described the accused “kicking and rubbing off her feet” before she took her card and headed for her car, with the accused following her and telling her to “Fuck off home”.
The court heard that although €200 was taken, the victim wasn’t sure what had happened until Garda Sean O’Callaghan identified the accused from CCTV, which also captured the incident.
The final victim, A Chinese man aged 38 years, was robbed of €700 from a Bank of Ireland ATM on O’Connell Street on the 30th of December 2025 at 10:40 am.
When this victim put his card into the ATM, Zinca approached him and said the machine was not working before proceeding to press the buttons while using two leaflets to conceal his actions.
The man saw the cash and tried to retrieve it but was “blocked” by the accused, who “ran out the front door”, Ms Delargy said.
Previous convictions
The court heard Zinca has 18 previous convictions in Ireland, including seven from Trim Circuit Court, most of them ATM distraction thefts. He also received a nine-month prison sentence in Cavan for ATM theft. He also has 32 foreign convictions in Belgium, Denmark and Germany. The defence accepted the Danish conviction but disputed the Belgian one.
He was also previously sentenced to 2 years 9 months at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in June 2021 and six months at Trim in September 2021.
Mr Spencer, defending, said that his client was remorseful for his actions and had been stealing to send money back to Romania for his ill grandmother, who has since passed away. He said that Zinca had a problem with “cocaine and some cannabis” at the time and had lost his job in waste disposal.
Zinca has three children, two of whom were born in Ireland, and a partner who came to court to support him. Members of the accused’s family also brought €2,000 in cash to offer to the seven victims.
He said that his client apologised “from the bottom of his heart” and said he hoped the victims would “forgive him”.
Mr Spencer argued that his client had not “targeted” people with vulnerabilities; however, passing sentence, Judge Power said that the court was of the view that he had.
Having heard the facts, Judge Power said that the court would consider some element of consecutive sentencing with regard to the charges.
He said that the accused would be given “full credit” for his early guilty plea and the fact that he has three children would be taken into consideration.
The court accepted that the accused was labouring under a drug addiction at the time and was sending money home to Romania for his sick relative.
A headline sentence of 4 years was marked on the counts related to the elderly nun, the woman in her 80s, the €700 theft, the wheelchair-bound man, and the man with sight issues.
The remaining counts were marked with headline sentences of three years each to run concurrent to each other but consecutive to the four years.
From the total sentence of five years in prison, the court suspended the final six months of the sentence on condition of good behaviour for two years post-release.