THE case against a man alleged to have stolen a vacuum cleaner from Bandon Co-op retail centre in Bandon was dismissed in the district court because the judge deemed he could not be identified on the CCTV evidence.
Prosecuting Inspector Kay O’Donoghue told Bandon District Court that John Cunningham, 34, of Turnapin Green, Santry, Dublin was charged with the theft of a vacuum cleaner from the Bandon Co-op store on September 2nd, 2023.
Giving evidence, store manager Donal Deasy said that he noticed that three vacuum cleaners, a Dyson and two Sharp models valued at €950 were missing from the shop floor.
Mr Deasy said that he reviewed CCTV footage and identified three people, two men and a woman entering the store and then leaving with the vacuum cleaners without paying. He said that further footage showed the three individuals leaving the carpark in a grey Toyota car.
Garda Eoin Hodnett said that after viewing the footage he ran a check on the car on the Garda Pulse system which identified several individuals who were associated with the vehicle. One of them was John Cunningham.
Garda Hodnett said he was ‘100% certain’ that Mr Cunningham was one of the three individuals on the CCTV footage. Mr Cunningham was arrested, in connection with the theft, in Gorey, Co Wexford. Garda Orla Sherry told the court that she interviewed Mr Cunningham on November 13th, 2023, in connection with the theft.
Mr Cunningham replied ‘no comment’ to every question put to him in relation to the incident.
Defence solicitor Éamonn Fleming said that from the CCTV footage it was impossible to be certain who the individuals were. He said there was no evidence of any distinguishing features and the two men in the footage would ‘match 20% of the male population if you put them in shorts and baseball caps’.
He also argued that though Mr Cunningham was associated with the car on the Pulse system, several other people were as well and this did not prove he was in Bandon on that day.
Judge Aylmer said that the man who was alleged to be Mr Cunningham had his head bowed and was wearing a baseball cap and it was impossible for the court to see his face in the footage.
He said that the court did not have evidence of how Garda Hodnett had come to the conclusion that the man in the footage was Mr Cunningham.
He said that there was a reasonable doubt as to who the individual was, and on that basis he dismissed the case.
