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.”