An 18-year-old woman from Castlebar was convicted of handling stolen property at Castlebar District Court this week after a laptop and camera, which were stolen from two schools, were discovered in her bedroom.
Gardaí, who were granted a search warrant, searched the McDonagh home — 56 An Srutháin, Castlebar — on June 4 2010 at 8.20am, following an investigation into a burglary in Westport. During their search they found nothing in relation to that incident; however, in the bedroom of Dolores McDonagh they found, hidden under a pile of clothes, an orange bag which contained a RM notebook and Sony Cyber camera.
The defendant could not provide an explanation as to where the items came from nor how they got there.
The laptop was identified as one stolen from Derrywash National School in April of that year and the camera was stolen from St Tiernan’s College, Crossmolina, in May of the same year.
No identifiable fingerprints were discovered on the items.
McDonagh told the court that she does not know how the items got there, but said that, as there are 18 children in their family and 55 nieces and nephews, that there are always people coming and going in their house.
Judge Mary Devins said that the items were found in the bedroom of McDonagh and therefore the defendant was in charge of any items or property in her room. The defendant has no previous convictions. Judge Devins adjourned the case to September 7 for a Probation Report.
