A man has been jailed for three months after stealing a €400 medical wig from the head of his ex-girlfriend.
Paul Carr (41), of Cluain Airne, Shannon, was sentenced at Ennis District Court by Judge Patrick Durcan who described as "appalling" the removal of the wig from the head of his former partner and making off with it during a disagreement.
Tara Godfrey, for Carr, admitted that "it was a particularly nasty offence in a particular context" but that her client apologised unreservedly and holds his ex-girlfriend in the highest of regard.
Break-up
Carr and the woman (38) split in 2012 and Ms Godfrey said her client had found it difficult to adjust to the break-up.
The woman purchased the wig in October of last year as she recovered from a serious illness.
Carr, who was not in court, pleaded guilty to the theft of the wig on January 17th last.
Insp Tom Kennedy said a dispute arose between the two outside her home in Shannon and during which Carr removed the wig from her head.
“Mr Carr wouldn’t give it back to her and he made off with the wig. And it was subsequently recovered by gardaí when they went to Mr Carr to investigate this,” he said.
“The woman was ill at the time and was receiving treatment. She had that wig, as she said in her statement, in order to boost her confidence and to allow her to go to work and mingle with the community without any embarrassment.”
Not trivial
Insp Kennedy added that the offence might appear at first to look trivial, but certainly was not unimportant for the woman.
Carr has convictions for theft offences, being drunk in public and breach of the peace.
Ms Godfrey said Carr had played football for “smaller professional clubs in England” before developing “an incredible alcohol problem”.
She said, previously, her client could never bring himself to believe that the relationship with the woman was over but now has.
The judge said he had great sympathy for Carr but it was a serious offence.
“That a man should remove from a woman’s head a wig being worn in the context of her recovering from a serious illness is, in my view, an appalling act.”
