Woman ‘shoplifted items from Penneys’, moments before court shoplifting case

A woman allegedly shoplifted a number of items from Penneys on her way to court to appear on other shoplifting charges, a court has heard.

Lisa Mongan appeared at Letterkenny District Court in Co Donegal charged with stealing property valued at between €400 and €600 of cosmetics and clothing from Penneys at Letterkenny Shopping Centre.

The court was told that gardaí have CCTV footage which shows Ms Mongan (33) lifting items and placing them into her bag before walking out without paying. None of the items were recovered.

The incident happened at around 10am on Wednesday morning, moments before she was due in court on similar charges.

Judge Raymond Finnegan was told that his colleague Judge Paul Kelly had effectively barred Ms Mongan from entering any shops in Letterkenny because of her risk of shoplifting.

Ms Mongan’s solicitor Donough Cleary applied for bail which gardaí strenuously objected to.

The court heard how the accused had a total of 27 bench warrants issued for her when she failed to turn up in court previously.

Garda McBride said that when he charged Ms Mongan she replied: “I can’t remember” and when cautioned she replied: “I’m very, very sorry.”

He added that there were no bail conditions that would satisfy him that Ms Mongan should be granted bail.

Solicitor Donough Cleary said Ms Mongan had problems in that if she was remanded in custody she could not attend counselling recommended by the courts.

“I see bigger problems than that for her at the moment,” remarked Judge Finnegan.

He remanded Ms Mongan, of Cashel Park, Lisnennan in custody to appear by videolink on October 26th.