Jail for ‘educated’ woman after shoplifting spree
A nine-month jail term was imposed on a young woman with a third-level education who fell into a heroin addiction and was caught with over €1,600 worth of shoplifted goods just before Christmas.
Amanda Dineen of Braemar, Old Blackrock Road, pleaded guilty to six counts of shoplifting at Cork District Court.
She stole goods from various stores on St Patrick St and close to the city centre at Holland & Barrett, Claire’s, Tesco, Gap, Accessorise and Dunnes. In respect of Tesco, the amount of stolen property totalled €706, and for Gap, the stolen clothes were worth €553.
Sgt Annmarie Twomey said on December 23, Dineen was stopped while walking through the city centre with a very large amount of shopping with the tags visible.
All of the stolen property was recovered and she made full admissions. She has 13 previous theft convictions and one for burglary.
Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said: “This is a lady who has had a significant addiction to heroin. She is educated to third-level standard… I would have certain knowledge that she was prevailed on to do this.”
Judge Olann Kelleher said:
“Unfortunately, she got some help from probation that she was not able to avail of due to her addiction. Unfortunately, she has fallen by the wayside.
She goes in and takes a lot of property and walks through the city with the tags still on the goods.”
