THE DNA of a man accused of involvement in a double ATM theft was found on the control panel of the stolen digger used to rip them from a supermarket wall, a jury has heard.
Opening the trial against Barry Richard Smith (33) at Antrim Crown Court, prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher submitted that without any innocent explanation for his DNA being found inside the stolen Caterpillar excavator, “you will be firmly convinced” that Smith was guilty.
Smith, from the Ballyutoag Road at Nutts Corner, faces four charges arising from the incident on February 1 2019 - two counts of stealing ATMs containing cash amounting to £156,540, causing criminal damage to Asda at Junction One and taking the digger without consent.
The excavator, she said, was driven from a nearby building site to waste ground beside the supermarket car park on January 31 and sat there until around 2am.
Meanwhile at around 10pm, a white Mitsubishi pick up truck was stolen from a property in Ballyeaston village and, along with a dark coloured car, drove in convoy to Junction One.
Although the ATM theft was not captured on CCTV, Ms Gallagher said the digger was used to rip the ATMs from supermarket wall and the stolen machines were loaded onto the back of the pick up truck and driven away.
While the money and the ATMs have never been recovered, the stolen truck was later found burnt out. When the cab of the digger was forensically examined, a mixed DNA profile was found on the left hand control panel.
Those profiles, explained Ms Gallagher, contained the DNA of at least two people but that Smith’s was “the major contributor".
During the trial, the jury will hear evidence from the digger owner who will testify that he never employed Smith and there was “no known connection”.
Smith was arrested and questioned but while he denied involvement, he did not offer any explanation for the forensic findings.
"It is accepted that the defendant’s DNA is present in the cab of the digger...and the reasonable conclusion or inference that you will be invited to come to by the prosecution is that the defendant drove the vehicle, the digger, on the night in question,” concluded Ms Gallagher.
The trial continues.