A judge, who held that a security man in a Dublin shop had planted a security tag in a woman's shopping, has awarded aggravated damages against the store. The Circuit Court President, Mr Justice Smyth, doubled to £10,000 the amount he said he would in normal circumstances have awarded Mrs Pauline Mulpeter, of Cabra, Dublin.
Mr Justice Smyth also doubled damages to £8,000 for Mrs Mulpeter's 11-year-old daughter, Jemma, who, along with her mother, had been embarrassed and humiliated by what had happened to them in the Champion Sports store in Dublin's ILAC Centre.
He told Mr John McDonagh, counsel for the Mulpeters, that he accepted the evidence that an untraceable security man had taken one of their bags back to a cash desk where he was seen putting the tag into the pocket of a tracksuit.
Mr Justice Smyth said Mrs Mulpeter had not bought anything in the shop and held receipts for what she had bought in other shops. He accepted that when a security buzzer went off as they left the shop both had been taken back and had had their bags "upended unceremoniously" on the floor in front of other shoppers.
He said the manager of the store who had spoken to them at the time may not have been aware of what the security man had done, but both Mrs Mulpeter and her daughter had been quite sure of having seen what he had done. The security man concerned was now in Australia and could not be traced.
Mr Justice Smyth said he accepted that security buzzers sometimes went off when they should not, but store staff had to be ultra-careful as to how they handled such incidents. Mrs Mulpeter and her daughter had been entirely innocent and completely vindicated in having issued court proceedings.