Courts

Woman who stole child’s birthday money and iPhone drove off with girl’s mother on bonnet

Mother managed to track stolen bag using an app and confronted thief, court hears

Pauline Crowley, a 47-year-old single mother, stole the bag containing €520 and an iPhone from a playground in Dunmanway in Co Cork at 2pm on July 12th last. Stock photograph Getty Images

Noel Baker
Tue Feb 6 2024 - 15:31

A woman who stole a child’s birthday money and her iPhone later drove away with the girl’s mother on the bonnet of her car before throwing a stolen purse – minus €460 – into the road, a court has heard.

Pauline Crowley, a 47-year-old single mother, stole the bag containing €520 and an iPhone from a playground in Dunmanway in Co Cork at 2pm on July 12th last.

The bag belonged to a 12-year-old girl who had gathered the money from her birthday and had intended to lodge it in the bank. The girl’s mother, Regina Forsythe, managed to track it using an app.

At Clonakilty District Court, Sgt Tom Mulcahy told Judge James McNulty that Ms Forsythe found the bag in the boot of a black Volkswagen Passat parked on Main Street in the town.

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The court heard that Crowley was about to sit into the driver seat and when Ms Forsythe raised the issue of the bag, there was an altercation. Ms Forsythe then stood in front of the car in an attempt to stop it driving away but Crowley drove away down the street.

“She ended up on the bonnet of the car,” Sgt Mulcahy said of Ms Forsythe, adding that she then slid off the car as it accelerated away, with three children inside it.

However, temporary roadworks meant the car had to stop at traffic lights, allowing Ms Forsythe to catch up. The court heard Ms Forsythe sat into the passenger seat and called the Garda.

Crowley then drove out of town but pulled in at a graveyard, where she threw the bag into the roadway. Ms Forsythe retrieved the bag, which was missing €460, while Crowley drove away.

Crowley then attended a Garda station where she alleged that she had had €200 taken from her and had been assaulted. The court heard she refused to engage with gardaí.

Photographs were later taken of the injuries suffered by Ms Forsythe, while CCTV also captured the incident.

Crowley’s solicitor, Eamonn Fleming, said the facts were accepted by his client in relation to all three charges.

He said Crowley was pleading guilty to theft and to assault causing harm to Ms Forsythe, while they were reserving their position in relation to a charge of dangerous driving in light of any possible appeal.

Crowley, of Ard Na Greine, Courtmacsherry, had no previous convictions and Mr Fleming said the incident was “very out of character” for his client.

e referred to Crowley, who had been working as a carer, having been “in a very difficult set of circumstances before this”, adding that she very much regretted what had happened.

Mr Fleming said his client had €500 in court, which Judge McNulty directed to be given to the 12-year-old child. “Restitution is part of making amends,” he said.

He rejected an application to have the dangerous driving reduced to careless driving.

“It would seem to me that for any person to drive a motor car with another human being on the bonnet for any period of time is dangerous” the judge said.

He also said it seemed a “rash and desperate thing” to steal a child’s handbag and for €460 to disappear “in the twinkling of an eye”.

Judge McNulty convicted Crowley on all three charges but deferred penalty pending a probation report to April 16th next. The court is also expected to receive a victim impact report on that day.

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