A 39-year-old mother of three has been jailed for a year for stealing six designer jackets worth more than €12,500 from Brown Thomas in the run up to Christmas 2024.
Her daughter was given a suspended sentence for the offence, which also involved three other people.
Cathriona Joyce and Caitlin Joyce (21) of St Brigid’s Lawn, Porterstown in Dublin were before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, where they pleaded guilty to stealing the jackets worth €12,615 from the department store on December 14th 2024.
Garda Shane Quinn told the court that the two women were seen on CCTV acting suspiciously on the same day that the jackets went missing.
He explained that three females and two males entered, loitered, and were surveilled. The females put the designer jackets under their own jackets and walked out of the door, while the males carried the other jackets out under their arms.
Searches were carried out of the Joyce women’s homes at St Brigid’s Lawn, and three of the jackets were found. Gda Quinn explained that one was found under a Christmas tree in the living room of Cathriona Joyce’s caravan, while the two others were found in the bedroom of her daughter’s caravan, which was in the same bay.
He added that, four days later, Cathriona Joyce handed “a black plastic bag containing three more Moncler jackets” into gardaí. They were returned in good condition, with the Brown Thomas labels and security tags still attached, and could be sold.
Gda Quinn agreed with the younger woman’s barrister that if these had been Penney’s jackets, the case would have been heard in the District Court. He also agreed that his client had no previous convictions and had engaged with Blanchardstown Traveller Development Group and in healthcare work, which would require garda vetting in the future.
Counsel added that she’d had difficulties at home, and had been caring for her grandmother, who had suffered a stroke.
Cathriona Joyce’s barrister said that his client had problems with her heart and back and had undergone surgery and a biopsy last week.
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She also suffered from anxiety and depression, and had lost her mother 11 months ago. She now cared for her father, who suffered from dementia.
Judge Martin Nolan noted that she had previously received the benefit of suspended sentences from various courts for similar convictions in the past. He jailed her for one year.
He then turned to her daughter, who had no previous convictions, and remarked that she was trying to improve herself. He sentenced her to one year in prison, but suspended it on condition she work with the probation services.
She entered her bond but broke down in tears as her mother was led away to begin her jail term.