TESCO SHOULD put its own system in place to deal with shoplifters and not have the Irish taxpayer foot the bill for the huge cost involving in bringing people before the courts, a District Court judge said yesterday.
Judge Mary Fahy said the taxpayer was paying for gardaí and prison officers who have to transport prisoners to court for just stealing a bottle of wine.
The judge made her comments at Galway District Court yesterday while dealing with Lithuanian, Nerijus Rudkauskas (38), of no fixed abode who pleaded guilty to stealing a €6.99 bottle of wine from Tesco in Galway on August 21st.
Insp Mick O’Dwyer said Rudkauskas was caught on camera stuffing the bottle of wine into his trousers and leaving the store without paying for it.
Three prison officers had to accompany the accused from Cork Prison for the brief hearing
The judge said: “Why doesn’t Tesco deal with this sort of thing without calling the gardaí. There should be some system put in place where Tesco deals with its own shoplifting problems. The Irish taxpayer is paying for all of this – the Garda escort to court and all that,” she said.
Hearing Rudkauskas is serving a three-month sentence in Cork Prison for a similar theft, Judge Fahy said she would not impose a custodial sentence on him for one bottle of wine and she took this latest theft charge into account.