DISTRACTION THIEVES
TWO Romanian nationals went into a shop in Tubbercurry and stole the purse of an 86-year-old woman after distracting her whilst she was doing her shopping.
The men, who had landed in Ireland just two days before the incident, had travelled from Ballyhaunis to Tubbercurry to commit the crime.
Gheorghe Nutica (42) approached the elderly shopper as she was shopping in Murphy’s Spar in the town and distracted her by enquiring about a product while Anton Mustaf (23) took her purse from her handbag which contained €147.20 and a set of house keys.
CCTV images of the theft were circulated on social media in a bid to catch the men. An alert Garda in Ballyhaunis also came across the images and even though the two Romanians had only arrived in Ireland two days before the incident on September 26 th last, he knew where they were staying.
Gardaí went and arrested the two men at a residence on the Knock Road in Ballyhaunis.
They were brought before a sitting of Let- terkenny District Court last Monday week and were refused bail, being remanded in custody to appear at Sligo District Court last Thursday before visiting Judge Conal Gibbons who described the crime as heinous.
Both men pleaded guilty and Mustafa, through his solictor, Ms Laura Spellman offered €120 to repay his victim.
Inspector Paul Kilcoyne told the court the two men had walked off after taking the purse having distracted the woman.
When Inspector Kilcoyne told Judge Gibbons the age of the victim there many audible tuts and sighs from members of the public in the packed courtroom.
Ms Spellman said it was a dreadful offence by the men who had come to Ireland in the hope of finding work.
Mustafa was a father of two children, aged one and two and they were still in Romania with his wife.
He wasn’t working at present but had worked as a street sweeper in his native country, she added.
Co-defendant, Nutica was due to start work last week in a chicken factory in Ballyhaunis having done similar work in Romania for 13 years.
He was the father of two children, aged six and seven and were due to join him along with his wife.
Judge Gibbons said it was a heinous type of offence with complete disregard for those who were vulnerable.
An 86-year-old woman was going about her lawful business, probably on a pension shopping in a store.
“The manner in which they committed this particular crime is heinous too in that they used subterfuge to part here from her property. It’s quite outrageous behaviour from your clients who were only two days in this country when it happened.
“Because the victim is elderly and vulnerable this puts a different context on this. A vulnerable, elderly woman was targeted,” said the Judge.
He stressed the men had gone into the supermarket for the purpose of preying on the woman.
He added that he believed he could justify the imposition of a custodial sentence in this case even though it was the men’s first offence.
He jailed both men for six months, telling Ms Spellman that he didn’t see any grounds for suspending any part of it. The maximum term he could have imposed was 12 months for the offence.
Recognisances were fixed in the event of appeal in their own bond of €100 and one independent surety of €100, to be approved by the court.