A Romanian couple blessed themselves when convicted and fined €500 before being released from custody at Galway District Court last week for stealing items from a city centre store the previous week.
Ioan Cosmin Pasare and his wife, Florina Galea, Ballybane Mór, Ballybrit, Galway, appeared before the court in custody.
Ioan Pasare pleaded guilty to stealing washing powder priced €11.99 from Dunnes Stores, Edward Square, Galway, on July 17 last. His wife pleaded guilty to stealing toiletries priced at €39.15 during the same incident.
Gardaí were called to the store but when neither of the accused had any form of identification on them they were taken into custody and taken to Tuam District Court the following day. They were further remanded in custody to this week’s sitting of Galway District Court because they failed to produce their identification documents to the court in Tuam last week.
Defence solicitor Olivia Traynor said this week that her clients had produced their documents to Gardaí since their court appearance in Tuam. She said the couple had been in Ireland for a year and the husband had had a job until recently in a vegetable cleaning factory in the Midlands. She said the few days they had spent in prison had been a harsh lesson for them.
Judge Mary Fahy said the only reason the pair had been remanded in custody was due to the fact they had failed to produce identification documents. She convicted and fined the husband €300 for his theft charge and imposed a €200 fine on his wife for her theft charge.
