A DISTRICT court judge has described the theft of money from an elderly woman’s handbag after she left it hanging on a shopping trolley as a very ‘low offence.’
Judge James McNulty made the comment when dealing with the case of Sean Casey (37) at Bandon District Court last week.
Mr Casey of 5 Meadowview, Kilbrittain pleaded guilty to the theft of €600 from the 81-year-old woman’s handbag.
Insp Emmet Daly told the court that at 3pm on May 3rd last the injured party had come out of the Riverview Shopping Centre in Bandon and was loading her shopping into her car from her shopping trolley.
‘She dropped back the trolley to the bay but her handbag was hanging from it and she only realised it afterwards when she got home,’ said Insp Daly.
‘Gardaí were contacted and they examined CCTV which showed the accused bending down for a short while near the trolley bay. The bag was found but the €600 was missing.’
When questioned by gardaí, Mr Casey made full admissions and the court heard he has seven previous convictions all related to road traffic offences.
Defence solicitor Éamonn Fleming said his client should have resisted when he saw the elderly woman’s handbag on the trolley.
‘He comes from very poor circumstances, has no previous convictions for theft and lives with his girlfriend’s parents and they have one child,’ said Mr Fleming.
He said his client has €250 in court and asked that the court give him more time to pay back the balance.
However, Judge McNulty pointed out that the offence happened four months ago and all Mr Casey had in court was just €250. He was told that he is not working and is on job seekers allowance and is finding it hard in his financial circumstances to come up with the money.
‘It’s a low offence and it was as clear as day that the handbag belonged to someone,’ said Judge McNulty, who added that he felt the accused wasn’t making much of an effort.
‘I haven’t heard any expression of regret or remorse or an apology yet from him.’
Following an assessment by the probation officer in court as to his suitability to carry out community service, Judge McNulty directed him to perform 200 hours of community service in lieu of 90 days in prison.
‘If he doesn’t do the 200 hours of community service, he will do the 90 days,’ remarked the judge.
He remanded him on continuing bail to appear in court on September 20th with the balance of the money to be paid back, which he said is a ‘long time coming.’
