Thief stole Viagra then sold it in pub
AMAN walked behind the counter of two pharmacies and stole packets of Viagra worth £350 - then sold them in the pub.
Ansar Mohammed, 43, was spotted by staff on both occasions shoving the packets of tablets into his pockets before ‘calmly’ walking out of the shops.
Despite being challenged on both occasions, he went on to flog the drugs in a local pub in order to buy alcohol, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Mohammed was in breach of a suspended sentence after he shoplifted alcohol, chocolate and coffee from a Co-op and assaulted a shop assistant as he tried to leave earlier this year.
He has since pleaded guilty to two offences of burglary and on Wednesdaywas weeks.
Carl Hargan, prosecuting, told the court that the first burglary took place on September 13 this year when Mohammed entered the pharmacy in Rochdale.
The pharmacist was working behind the counter when she noticed Mohammed and asked if he was OK and he said he was ‘fine’.
Mohammed walked to the Viagra section and she looked down momentarily before looking up and seeing him walking out with ‘hands full’ of the medication.
“The defendant has a long and, some may say, a bad record predominantly for shoplifting,” Mr Hargan said.
“The pharmacist shouted at him to stop and he didn’t respond, and kept walking, and was cool and calm.”
In a statement, the pharmacist said: “These jailed for 44 people don’t care about the consequences to what they do, and they don’t understand the consequences of selling something like this to some random person down the pub.”
A week later on September 20, Mohammed was caught again going into another pharmacy, this time on Oldham Road.
The employee knew him from serving him his medication.
“At around 9.40pm, she watched as the defendant came in, walked straight towards the counter and so she asked him what he wanted,” the prosecutor said.
“He went behind the counter to go to the dispensary, he picked up several packets of Viagra tablets before going to walk off.
“The employee told him to stop, and he replied: “you guys have been good to me, before I kill myself my probation officer will know about it”.
In total, around £260 was estimated to have been taken.
The woman added in a statement: “When he has been in the past he’s usually been quite nice, so this was a shock that he has done this.”
The court heard that these offences put him in breach of a suspended sentence that was imposed after he had stolen items from a Co-op on Edenfield Road.
Staff watched as he placed bottles of booze, chocolate and coffee jars into a bag for life before trying to leave.
When he was stopped at the door by a staff member there was a ‘tug of war’ with the bag, before he used his body weight to push past her, knocking her to the floor, before leaving the store.
Mohammed was said to have 32 previous convictions for 47 offences.
In mitigation, his defence counsel David Bruce said his client was ‘deeply empathetic’ and ‘ashamed’ by his behaviour and wishes to apologise to staff.
“His parents who have been extremely supportive in the past, but have said he becomes a ‘menace’ when he drinks and it needs to stop,” he said.
“Any time in prison is going to have a significant impact on him.
“Clearly he is at an age where he has got to learn to cope.”
Sentencing, Recorder Ciaran Rankin said: “You decided to sell that in order to fund your use of alcohol and I understand you wish to apologise.
“You clearly don’t care about the upset you caused to staff and you don’t care about the dangers of selling these items.”
Mohammed, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 44 weeks.