A single mother of four, described by her probation officer as "an angry young woman", was sentenced to 20 months in prison and banned from driving for 25 years at Galway District Court yesterday, following a four-year crime spree.
The woman, in her early 30s, pleaded guilty to 120 offences.
These included assaults on gardaí and civilians, bagsnatching, shoplifting from 20 shops in Galway city, driving without insurance on 18 different occasions, forging stolen cheques in various shops in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, being drunk in public and breaching the peace. In all, 30 gardaí were involved in prosecuting the accused on various dates between 2000 and 2003.
Inspector Tony O'Donnell said that on one occasion the woman and two of her children stole toys from Smyths Toy Store in Galway and ran outside. A security man tried to stop her driving away but the woman spat into his face. She returned 10 minutes later and threatened to have him kneecapped if he reported her to the gardaí. Her children were in the back of the car at the time.
The woman also had a penchant for filling her car with petrol and driving off without paying, while she also filled her shopping trolley with groceries and left a small supermarket in Galway city without paying on two occasions.
On another occasion, she took clothing off hangers in Dunnes Stores and threw them on the floor. Her young daughter then put them into a bag, and her two sons took two baseball hats before they all left the store without paying. Inspector O'Donnell said the woman regularly brought her children on shoplifting expeditions.
On another occasion, the woman stole a handbag containing cash and mobile phone in a fast-food restaurant. When the victim confronted her and asked for her bag back, she head-butted the handbag owner in the face.
Passing sentence, Judge Conal Gibbons said that while he never liked sending people to prison, it was absolutely deserved in this case.
Holding up a file on the accused, which he could barely fit in his hand, the judge said he had sat in many courts but never before had he come across anyone with so many summons and charge sheets against them. He said that while he was in no doubt that the woman loved her children, and had suffered deprivations in her own childhood, as outlined in 14 probation reports handed into the court, she could not take out her misfortunes on others.
The young mother, who is currently serving a four-month prison term for driving without insurance on other dates, seemed unmoved by the judge's comments. Defence solicitor, Ms Valerie Corcoran, said her client had a troubled past and had to flee a volatile marriage in Cork with her four children. She vehemently denied bringing her children on her shoplifting escapades. Ms Corcoran said the woman had trouble finding accommodation in Galway and had resorted to crime to feed and clothe her family because she could not live on social welfare payments.
Judge Gibbons imposed sentences totalling 20 months and banned the woman from driving for 25 years. He also fined her a total of €4,610 and fixed recognisance in the event of an appeal.