A woman charged with attempting to steal 17 dresses from a store in Athlone Towncentre will have to wait until September to find out if she is to face a jury trial.
In the District Court this week (July 20 ), was Sandra Griffin (34 ) from Upper Oriel Street, North Wall, Dublin 1, who pleaded not guilty to the charge that, on April 23, 2010 at around 3.30pm she entered Monsoon with a male accomplice and a foil-lined bag, and attempted to steal the 17 dresses and a cardigan, worth an estimated €3,169.
Garda Emer Finn told the court that gardaí had CCTV footage of the alleged crime in which the defendant was clearly recognisable, and that Griffin had made “certain admissions” during questioning.
“This appears to me to be a commercial-style of theft,” said Judge Seamus Hughes, whilst debating jurisdiction.
“This person is from Dublin and travelled to Athlone to commit this crime. I’ll give this person her day in the Circuit Court before a jury, where the sentences are much bigger than 12 months,” said the judge.
He refused jurisdiction, and remanded Griffin on continuing bail until September 28 to see if the Director of Public Prosecutions felt the same way as to the seriousness of this alleged crime.
