‘Going back to prison would set me back big time’

A 40-YEAR-OLD woman with 243 previous convictions was back before the courts on Friday after she was arrested in Killarney on a theft related charge.

Catherine Lambert, previously of Dingle and currently staying in the Beaufort area, has 153 previous convictions for theft but at Friday’s court sitting in Tralee she denied any involvement in the theft of an Orla Kiely purse valued at €200, as well as a small sum of cash and bank card.

Ms Lambert was arrested at Main Street, Killarney on Wednesday, April 15. Detective Garda Chris Manton said that, despite the defendant’s denial, gardaí were “100 percent sure” that Ms Lambert was the relevant person as she had been seen on CCTV.

The court also heard details of a breach of bail relating to the alleged theft of three purses in The Temple Bar area of Dublin.

Ms Lambert had been warned to sign on at Dingle Garda Station as she had been living nearby but solicitor Pat Mann said his client had to move out of the house she was residing in as it was being renovated. She subsequently moved to the Beaufort area to stay with a friend.

Ms Lambert said she was a former drug addict who is HIV positive. “Going back to prison would set me back big time,” she told the court.

Ms Lambert has 56 previous bench warrants but stated that she was on drugs at the time and is now clean after her partner died by suicide.

“There is a limit to things,” Judge James O’Connor said, adding that there was evidence of theft on a serial basis between 1998 and 2014.

Ms Lambert was remanded in custody and will appear in Tralee this Wednesday, April 22.