Man with boot load of stolen clothes denied free legal aid

FREE legal aid was refused in the case of a man found with a boot load of stolen clothes worth thousands of euro when gardaí inspected his car at the Rosslare Europort.

The application made by solicitor Eadaoin Lawlor on behalf of the 29-year-old was turned down after Judge Gerard Haughton was told he had £1,200 (sterling) on him when arrested.

Defendant Petrisor Lupu, with an address at 218 Clonliffe Road in Dublin, was travelling with his partner and young child when he was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen property.

Garda John Hubbart told the District Court how he made the arrest the previous evening on October 18 after examining a vehicle which was waiting to board the ‘Oscar Wilde’ ferry to France.

He discovered around €2,000 worth of new clothes still bearing their tags which he believed had been stolen from various shops in Dublin city centre.

Lupu pleaded guilty, with the assistance of a Romanian interpreter, to handling and Ms Lawlor told the court that he had been in Ireland for a matter of weeks.

The judge noted that what he called a substantial amount of property was involved as he imposed a six month jail sentence, which was suspended once the defendant agreed to be bound to the peace for a year.

The solicitor said that her client was diabetic and pointed out that the car had been seized by gardaí but her application for legal aid failed in the light of the money he had with him.