This article is from page 12 of the 2008-10-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
A ROMANIAN woman who stole two dozen bottles of alcohol from a Shannon supermarket – by hiding them under her coat – has been hand- ed a week-long jail term.
Aurelia Sindie took 24 bottles of alcohol on two dates within a week from Dunnes Stores in the SkyCourt shopping centre, Shannon.
Sindie (29), of Emerson Avenue, Salthill, Galway, pleaded guilty to stealing eight bottles of Hennessy brandy on April 24 last. She also admitted stealing 10 bottles of Jame-
son whiskey, two bottles of Hen- nessy brandy and four bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey, one week later, on May 1. The total cost of the bottles amounted to €946.36.
Inspector Tom Kennedy told Shan- non District Court last Thursday that on May | last, the accused went shopping in Dunnes.
She paid for household items, but concealed the alcohol – worth €590.44 – and did not pay for it. Se- curity staff detected her.
It later transpired that she had been in the store exactly a week earlier – at 3pm in the afternoon – when she had
concealed eight bottles of brandy.
“That investigation was only con- ducted because she was detected on May 1,” said Inspector Kennedy.
The court was told that while the accused had no previous convictions in her native Romania, she had been convicted of shoplifting in Roscom- jeaCOyempaMLetelon
Her solicitor Daragh Hassett said she “stole with the hope of selling the bottles on to her friends.”
“She was in doing some shopping and yes, she succumbed to tempta- tion due to financial hardship. . . She now has three strikes on her record.
She has only been here a year,” he Cree
“She was walking into shops, putting bottles under her coat. It beg- gars belief that she would think she would get away with this,’ he said. He added that the accused has now learnt her lesson.
Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a seven-day jail term and ordered that the Health Service Executive be noti- 1nsreb
He fined her ©200 and ordered that the remaining compensation – €355.92 – be paid. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.