A WOMAN who lined the inside of a River Island bag with foil stole over €1,000 worth of items from retail shops in Bandon over two years ago.
Bandon District Court heard that the thefts were only detected when gardaí in Cork city stopped a car that Jenna Keating was a front seat passenger in, on October 10th, 2022. She was unable to provide receipts for all the goods and they then notified gardaí in Bandon.
Ms Keating (36) with an address at 77 Killala Gardens, Knocknaheeny, Cork city pleaded guilty to the five theft charges at Bandon District Court where she admitted to stealing €1,134.40 worth of goods from shops on South Main Street and the Riverview Shopping Centre in Bandon on October 10th 2022.
Sgt Eimear O’Connell told Judge John King that all the items were returned to the store after the accused was stopped by gardaí in Cork city.
‘She was a front seat passenger in a car which was stopped by gardaí. She had no receipts for any of the goods in the car and a number of tags were still attached. She had taken out the lining of a River Island bag and put foil in there so the tags weren’t detected,’ said Sgt O’Connell.
Some of the items stolen included two bottles of ‘Alien Goddess’ perfume, two mustard gilets, Olaplex shampoo and conditioner, three Manchester United jerseys and one Liverpool jersey from a number of shops in the Riverview Shopping Centre and on South Main Street.
The court heard that the accused has 13 previous convictions with 11 of those theft-related.
Defence solicitor Myra Dinneen said her client is a lone parent to three children and isn’t currently working. She said all the items were returned to the shops but Judge King said it was no credit to the accused that this happened.
Ms Keating told Judge King that she wouldn’t break the law again.
Judge King sought a pre-sentencing probation report in the expectation that she will receive a custodial sentence and remanded her on continuing bail to appear in court again on May 2nd.
