Mum used son, 5, to rob clothes from shop

A five-year-old boy employed by his mother to steal a basket of clothes from Penneys couldn’t lift the basket because of the weight and instead had to drag the basket out of the store.

At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Judge Tom O’Donnell described as “absolutely and utterly reprehensible” that married mother of four, Tania McCarthy, aged 29, had employed her five-year-old son “not once, but twice” to help her steal two baskets of clothes from Penneys in Ennis.

He said: “This was a disgraceful performance.”

In the district court last June, McCarthy was jailed for four months for the thefts from Penneys in January of last year. However, McCarthy of Shalee Drive, Ennis, Co Clare. hasn’t served the time in jail after appealing the jail terms imposed.

Giving an outline of the facts at the appeal hearing yesterday, state solicitor for Clare, Martin Linnane told the court that on January 6 last year, McCarthy was seen filling clothes, which had a value of €248, into a basket in Penneys and leaving her five-year-old son to drag the basket out of the shop as he couldn’t lift the basket because of the weight.

Mr Linnane said that McCarthy was seen following her son out of the shop. They were at the main entrance of the shopping centre when stopped by security and the clothes were returned to the shop.

On January 15, gardaí arrested McCarthy for the theft. Penneys contacted gardaí to confirm that an examination of CCTV found that two days prior to the January 6 theft, McCarthy and her son were involved in a similar incident at its Ennis store.

Mr Linnane said that Penneys’ staff viewed footage where McCarthy is seen filling a basket of €200 worth of clothes and leaving her son to drag the basket out of the shop. The two went undetected that day and the goods were not recovered.

In reply to being charged for the thefts, McCarthy told a garda: “He is just a child. He ran out with the basket and I was shouting after him to bring it back. I ran out after him and took it off him and brought it back.”

Solicitor for McCarthy, Tara Godfrey said McCarthy and her family were homeless for an extended period of time around this time. She said that the Child and Family Agency (CFA) got involved “and are happy with my client and her family now”.

She said: “With the two of them and their four children out of the streets, I would ask the court to have pity on them.”

Judge O’Donnell said: “I might consider some pity but when a woman utilises her five-year-old child to commit shoplifting offences, that is absolutely and utterly reprehensible.”

Judge O’Donnell noted that McCarthy had stayed out of trouble over the past 12 months and that the difficult family circumstances have stabilised.

Adjourning the case to October and remanding McCarthy on bail, Judge O’Donnell said: “I can consider making all of the sentences consecutive and if there is any difficulty between now and October, I will consider doing that.

“I want to repeat what she did with her five-year-old to participate in these escapades was absolutely reprehensible.”