Customer accused of shoplifting is awarded €35,000

A CUSTOMER at a Gorey service station wrongly accused of shoplifting received a €35,000 defamation award after giving her evidence to the Circuit Court.

Margaret Cash from Gorey Hill, Carnew Road, took legal action against Brian King, trading as King’s Gala, a short walk from her home.

The mother of two, now 38 weeks pregnant with her third child, recalled how she was at the premises in question on the evening of July 4 in 2017.

She was with her mother and a cousin at the clothes washing machines located outside the shop.

She headed into the shop with her cousin to fetch some change for the machine and they were approached at the door by cashier Billy Byrne.

He said that the cousin was barred and, when the plaintiff attempted to go ahead inside, he said that she was barred and that she had been shoplifting.

Her mother was shown a photograph lifted from the CCTV system showing two females who had apparently been attempting to steal goods.

The mother told Byrne that the culprit indicated looked nothing like her daughter.

The assistant manager arrived after around 20 minutes and apologised for the accusation that had been levelled.

The plaintiff said she was quite upset by the incident and reckoned there were two or three people in the shop at the time she was accused.

She told the court she used to buy food and energy drinks there but that she had not been back to the garage since as she was too embarrassed.

However, her husband had gone there to buy the chicken fillet rolls she likes for her and her mother also continued to use the shop.

She recalled having a meeting about what happened with manager David Jacob who advised her to let the matter go as the cashier was a son of the Billy Byrne who used to hurl for Wexford.

The witness said she did not understand what this had to do with it and stated that she had never received any apology from Byrne junior.

Barrister William Fitzgerald confirmed that the cashier was not present in court as it had not been possible for the defence to locate him.

Evidence was heard from the plaintiff ’s mother, Catherine Moorehouse, who said she was at King’s Gala on the evening in question to use the washing machine.

She gave her daughter a €20 note, asking her to get change in the shop.

Margaret was upset when she returned to the washing machine and reported that she had been accused of shoplifting.

The witness recalled how she walked up to the staff member who had made the accusation. He told her (Ms Moorehouse) that he had a photograph showing the shoplifting and, after the photo was shown to her, she told him that her daughter was not in the picture.

The assistant manager, when she arrived, apologised and said that Byrne had made a mistake.

This version of events was not substantially challenged by the defence.

However, Mr Fitzgerald suggested that there was no malice in the actions of the cashier, pointing out that it was made clear to Ms Cash within 20 minutes that she was not barred from the garage.

The apology offered by the assistant manager was followed by another apology from manager David Jacob at a meeting held later.

Judge Hutton noted that the plaintiff had been embarrassed and made to feel inferior to a person who was a GAA star.

The court found Ms Cash to have been a truthful witness and that the apologies she received did not meet the legal requirements.

She had been defamed, the judge ruled, awarding her a decree for €35,000, plus legal costs.

At the request of the defence counsel, a stay was put on the court’s order to allow for the possibility of an appeal.