Shoplifters jailed for thefts on first day in Ireland

Two Bulgarian women who were arrested for stealing on their very first day in Ireland wailed loudly when they were told at Galway District Court that they were both being jailed.

The women had the services of an interpreter and calmly stood during evidence of how they preyed on two elderly women in two different supermarkets and stole their wallets.

Both Mariya Ivanova and Dochka Minkova, both of No Fixed Abode pleaded guilty to a theft at Tesco in Oranmore on May 24 last when they followed an 80-year-old customer, distracted her and took her handbag from her shopping trolley which contained a wallet worth €100 with €280 cash inside.

Ivanova also pleaded guilty to stealing a jacket worth €25 from Dunnes Stores on the same day. She had taken off her own jacket, put on the new one from the rack and walked out of the store, the Court heard.

They both pleaded guilty to following a 68-year-old customer in Dunnes and taking her wallet, worth €100 and containing €120 cash. The defendants were identified on CCTV cameras in both stores.

Judge Mary Fahy said that the women, aged 46 and 20, had obviously come to Ireland with a purpose and had used a modus operandi of targeting older, vulnerable customers and distracting them so they could rob them.

The Court was told by prosecuting Sergeant Aoife Curley that the 80-year-old woman wasn’t sleeping since she was robbed and was afraid to return to Tesco.

The second victim was quite nervous since. On the day, she had her ten-year-old grandchild with her and she had initially thought she had lost her purse and had retraced her steps to find it. She also had to go to her bank to get cash to pay for her goods. She hadn’t realised she had been robbed.

Judge Fahy said nobody expected to be followed and targeting in that manner in a supermarket.

Sgt Curley said that the wallets and the cash as well as the jacket had not been recovered.

Defending solicitor, Brian Gilmartin, said he understood a sum of money had been taken from his clients when they were arrested and they were willing to hand this over to the victims as compensation.

Judge Fahy said it was also much more than about compensation as people often had personal items in wallets other than bank cards and cash. She said she would accept their money to pay compensation but that it didn’t cover the stress or the panic involved in losing or having a wallet robbed off you. She further praised the Gardaí for the prompt way in which they solved the crime.

On hearing the women had just arrived in the country that day, Judge Fahy said they had certainly got right down to business and wondered if anyone else gained from their crimes.

She said she could understand – but quickly added she wasn’t condoning any crime – how people down on their luck might resort to crime, but said she was appalled at the way this crime had been premeditated and carried out.

Mr Gilmartin said Ivanova was aged 47 with seven children and divorced while her 20-year-old cousin, Minkova, was seven months pregnant.

Judge Fahy imposed a nine-month sentence on each of the women for the Tesco theft and further imposed a one-month concurrent sentence on Ivanova for stealing the jacket. Minkova was also given a five-month consecutive sentence for the Dunnes theft. All sentences are to be backdated to June 1 when they were first arrested.

Judge Fahy said it was up to the State to deport them and granted Mr Gilmartin’s request that recognisances be fixed at their own bail of €400 each and independent bail of €1,000.

The two women and their interpreter then went downstairs to the cells where the details of their sentence was explained to them. As Judge Fahy moved onto the next case, the loud wailing of the women downstairs could be heard for a few minutes as the business of the Court continued.