A pregnant woman awaiting a Circuit Court sentence for false imprisonment during a burglary was warned she would still go to jail if she came to any further Garda attention within the next six months.
“I don’t care even if you have triplets, I’ll send you to jail if you come to Garda notice again,” said Judge Seamus Hughes to Maitland O’Neill (25 ) from Meadowbrook, Willow Park, Athlone in the District Court this week (July 4 ).
O’Neill, who has over 100 previous convictions, was in court to hear an updated Probation Service report.
Last year O’Neill pleaded guilty to the theft of two portable DVD players, worth a total of €256, from Tesco, Golden Island on February 11, 2011, which were not recovered.
Referring to the report submitted on O’Neill by the Probation Service, Inspector Aidan Minnock noted: “She appears to be doing well, but there are some serious charges before the court,” and suggested a lengthy remand for the defendant might be the best way forward.
He spoke of her anticipated sentencing at the Circuit Court on July 27, and also referred to the seven other outstanding theft charges facing O’Neill, committed between last September and January, in which she took saucepans, groceries, cosmetics, razors, furniture and a handbag from a number of locations around Athlone.
In December, O’Neill had claimed she had saved up the €256 to repay Tesco, but that her sister had stolen it, and that she had an €80 a week heroin habit, which she has since managed to overcome. She told the judge she was expecting a baby on October 13.
Accepting the recommendations of both the inspector and the Probation Service, Judge Hughes remanded O’Neill on continuing bail until January 23, 2013, to save up the compensation, and also asked for an updated report to be prepared on her by that date.
“They’ll set the bar high for you, and will report to me in six months time. You’re on a short leash, Ms O’Neill,” warned the judge.
“And I haven’t looked at the other [seven charge] sheets,” he warned, before giving both the Probation Service and the Gardaí permission to bring O’Neill back before him for the slightest transgression.
