The MO of a scratch card sneak thief was described as “very deceptive” when he came before Galway District Court on six theft charges.
Conor Ward, 58 Carn Ard, Rahoon, currently in custody and with previous convictions from this jurisdiction, the UK and NI, had clocked up a significant loss for traders through his deceptions, Judge Valerie Corcoran was told. However, the Court was not informed if Ward had got lucky with any of the scratch cards he stole.
His modus operandi (MO ) was to go into a shop, ask for scratch cards and when they were put on the counter he would then ask for cigarettes. When the shop assistants turned their back to get the cigarettes, Ward would grab the scratch cards and run.
On another occasion his haul from a hardware store included three slash hooks. In total the loss to his victims was over €1,000.
Olivia Traynor solr (defending ) pointed out that the offences had taken place during a three-week period between May and June last.
She said her client had two children and his mother was in Court to support him. He had been taken into custody on February 18 and remained there, as he couldn’t make his bail as the cash couldn’t be found. Ward, she said, had a battle with addiction for quite a period of time.
Judge Corcoran said the scratch card scam was quite a “deceptive thing to do” and sentenced the defendant to four months’ imprisonment, backdated to when he was first taken into custody.
