A babysitter managed to crack two different safes belonging to her employers and stole a total of €8,000.
Marian Rodgers got a job as a residential childminder for a family in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, after losing her job in the insurance business. She owed money on a car loan and began to steal from the safe of her new employer.
Det Garda Alfie McHale told Letterkenny District Court that he investigated claims that amounts between €400 and €2,500 had been taken from a safe between August 2011 and March 2012.
He told the court that when money went missing from the safe initially, it had been replaced with a new safe but that too was breached by the thief. Garda McHale said he later saw the accused in the Oldtown area of Letterkenny and arrested her. A search of her car found items including 11 used AIB banking bags and €394.45 in coins.
Solicitor Michael Gillespie said the sum had now been repaid in full and she was fully co-operative at all times. Judge Paul Kelly convicted Rodgers on one count of theft, fining her €500.