‘Nothing to celebrate’ as Laois woman racks up 100th conviction
Portlaoise Courthouse
JUDGE Andrew Cody said that when somebody reaches 100, it’s a time of celebration but there were no such cerebrations at Portlaoise District Court last week when a local woman racked up her 100th conviction for theft.
He made the comment when Theresa Conroy (40), Hynds Square, Portlaoise was brought before him on four counts of theft.
She pleaded guilty to the theft of €21.46 worth of groceries from Aldi, Portlaoise on 29 July; the theft of five bottles of perfume from TK Max, Portlaoise on 3 August; the theft of cosmetics from Shaws, Portlaoise on 7 August, to the value of €121.64; and cosmetics costing €197 from Dunnes Stores, Kyle Centre, Portlaoise on 8 August.
The court heard that Ms Conroy has 116 previous convictions, 100 of these under the Theft Act. It also heard that she is currently in custody, with a release date of 18 January next year.
Defending solicitor Brian Duffy said that his client had being doing very well in prison for a while and was out on temporary release at the time of the offences. He said there were underlying issues with his client involving trauma and grief and that getting services and supports for these issues seemed to be an issue.
Judge Cody said: “We normally celebrate when somebody reached 100, but there is nothing to celebrate here. It gives me no joy to deal with cases like this.” He noted that up to several years ago, Ms Conroy had 50 previous convictions but in a short space of time had amassed more convictions and had stolen €3-4,000 worth of goods from local shops.
He went on to sentence Ms Conroy to three months in prison for one of the offences, to be served on the expiration of her current sentence, and took the other three into consideration.
