Young man took new jeans, left old ones

March 1982

A young Wexford man who went to a local store with the intention of swapping a pair of jeans that didn’t fit him was before the District Court last week on a charge of stealing.

The court heard that [defendant’s name and address witheld] went to [store name withheld] on January 3, after receiving a Christmas present from his girlfriend of a pair of jeans that turned out to be too small for him.

He brought those jeans back to the store and made his way towards the counter, only to see a large queue of people there because of the January sales. He then decided to simply put the ill-fitting jeans back on the rack, and he then began to choose other ones. When he found a pair at the same price that he thought would fit him, he simply picked them up and walked out of the store, leaving the others behind. A store security guard had seen what he had done however, and apprehended him just outside.

Defendant said he did not realise his actions would be considered as stealing, since the store was not at a loss of either property or financial value. He simply considered it ‘a shortcut’ to changing the jeans without having to queue.

Mr Justice Dennehy labelled defendant as ‘naive’, but on hearing he had no previous convictions and was ‘unlikely’ to come to the attention of the Gardaí again, decided to strike out the charge.