A Tralee woman with 168 previous convictions has been sentenced to three months in prison for stealing a collection box from a charity shop.
Fionnuala Moloney, with an address of Arlington Lodge, Tralee, was convicted of stealing the collection box in Tralee District Court.
Her solicitor Pat Mann told the court she had no recollection of it and wasn’t thinking straight.
Tralee District Court was told that Ms Moloney stole a collection box from the St Vincent de Paul shop in Tralee on 19th March this year.
The court heard the value of this property was approximately €250, and it was not recovered.
Solicitor Pat Mann said she would be entering a guilty plea to the matter.
Gardaí told the court Ms Moloney has 168 previous convictions, including 70 for Section 4 theft offences.
Mr Mann said the evidence given by those working in the shop was that this was a woman known to them when she walked into the shop at first.
Judge David Waters said he could picture Ms Moloney entering the shop, adding she probably wandered in in a daze.
Mr Mann said she has no recollection of the incident, and probably saw the money and just acted on impulse to take it.
He said she would not want to deprive the charity of money, and wasn’t thinking straight.
The court was told Ms Moloney was convicted for a similar offence in the Circuit Court earlier this year, and is awaiting sentencing for this.
Judge Waters convicted her of the single offence and sentenced her to three months in prison, and said hopefully she will be encouraged to seek out addiction treatment in prison.
