Woman sentenced to three months after Cork family's beloved pet stolen from car

Theft of eight-year-old dog led to media campaign for her return

Sergeant Dave Delea said the stolen dog was recovered by gardaí at the defendant’s home on September 14, five days after it had been reported stolen from the car parked outside the Mercy.

The story of a beloved family pet that was stolen from a car and not found until gardaí raided an apartment in Cork city five days later resulted in one woman being sentenced yesterday.

Noreen Foley, aged 37, of Grenville Court, Grenville Place, Cork, confessed to handing of stolen property, namely Ruby, the eight-year-old Cavachon dog.

Ms Foley’s solicitor, Shane Collins-Daly said: “She is at pains to point out that she is not the person who stole the dog. She accepts she is guilty of the charge of handling the stolen dog.” 

The case became a talking point in Cork, not least because of a media campaign for information leading to the safe return of the dog and the fact that the pet had a particular place in the heart of the family who own Ruby. The dog was being minded by a relative at the time of the theft and she had gone into Mercy University Hospital for a number of minutes with the window open a little to leave air in. When she returned, the window had been forced open and the dog taken.

Sergeant Dave Delea said the stolen dog was recovered by gardaí at the defendant’s home on September 14, five days after it had been reported stolen from the car parked outside the Mercy.

While Noreen Foley pleaded guilty to handling stolen property arising out of this incident, she also pleaded guilty to a number of theft charges arising out of clothing and groceries stolen by her around this time at TK Maxx on Cornmarket Street, TK Maxx in Douglas village, and at Aldi in Douglas, of the following amounts respectively, €450, €298 and €111.

While the value of the stolen dog was inestimable to the family, the monetary value was put at €1,000.

Previous convictions

Sgt Delea said the accused had 52 previous convictions for theft and one for handling stolen property in her total list of 87 convictions.

Mr Collins-Daly said: “She has had very bad addiction difficulties and health problems as well. The drug addiction spiralled. She was addicted to painkilling medication which she sourced on the streets and not through her GP.” 

He said that timing of her ending up in custody was very unfortunate as a lot of work had been done by support services to secure accommodation for her recently.

Judge Philip O’Leary imposed a sentence of three months imprisonment on Ms Foley and marked the other charges — including the handling of the stolen dog — as taken into consideration.