Mass attendance sees shoplifting accused late for court

A man accused of shoplifting in Cork City centre was late for his court appearance yesterday because he was attending Mass.

A bench warrant was issued by Judge Marie Keane for the arrest of Damien Kavanagh, aged 29, of 1 Mount St, Joseph’s Heights, Gurranabraher, Cork, at Cork District Court after his failure to appear yesterday morning.

Inspector Finbarr O’Sullivan said that, on June 25, 2015, the accused entered Brown Thomas on St Patrick’s St and tried to remove security tags from clothing, causing €80 worth of damage.

He stole a small amount of clothing from Penney’s and at Dunnes Stores, the inspector said.

Shortly before lunchtime the accused appeared in court and his solicitor, Eddie Burke, applied to have the warrant revoked.

He said that the accused had to attend Mass at the Missionaries of Mercy in Blarney, where he was dealing with addiction difficulties.

Judge Keane imposed a €250 fine on the accused for causing criminal damage, €150 for one theft and the second theft count was taken into consideration.