Mother and daughter awarded €45k after shoplifting accusation

A mother and daughter were yesterday awarded €45,000 in defamation damages after they were falsely accused of shoplifting from a Dunnes Stores outlet in Limerick.

Mary McNamara and her daughter, Tamara, from Murroe, Co Limerick, had gone to Dunne Stores at the Parkway Shopping Centre on May 3, 2008, to buy a Confirmation outfit.

Limerick Circuit Court heard that when they could not get what they wanted they left without making a purchase. They were approached by a Dunnes Stores security man on the concourse who asked them to return to the store, saying they had left without paying for a garment.

The court heard that people who knew the McNamaras saw them being confronted by the security man and this caused embarrassment and upset.

Judge James O’Donohue, awarding Mary McNamara €20,000 and Tamara €25,000, said they were respectable people and that if the security man had a reasonable belief there had been a theft, he would have contacted the gardaí, which he did not.

The judge said he took a serious view over the Dunnes Stores security man not having a proper identification tag.

He said: “These [plaintiffs] are perfectly decent people and I think Dunne Stores have to be more careful when approaching people in a public area.”

Ms McNamara claimed that when the security man approached, he put his hand on her. She denied being asked by the security man to return to the store and also denied being abusive.

Dunnes Stores’ security man, Syed Hasnain Alam, said he observed the two women on CCTV and that Ms McNamara took an item from a hanger. At that time there was no alarm on the store doors and he followed her and walked past her. He did not touch her and identified himself as a Dunnes Stores security man. He agreed that he had not been wearing security identification.

Judge O’Donohue said he accepted the evidence of the two plaintiffs and was sceptical of the security man’s account.