Do you ever open food and eat it while doing the weekly shop? Well, don't because you could be facing two months jail time!
Cork woman Kathleen McDonagh popped open a can of Pringles in a Tesco. A Tesco that she had previously been barred from in Cork. The eagle-eyed security for the store saw McDonagh and asked her to leave the store. She had offered to pay but she was refused and told again to leave the store. This took place back in December of 2016.
Kathleen has now been jailed for two months following pleading guilty to causing criminal damage to the tube of Pringles. According to the Irish Examiner, the Judge, Brian O'Shea sentenced her to four months in prison with half of the sentence suspended.
McDonagh had 14 previous theft convictions at the time of the crime.
Reacting to the judgement, Deputy Executive Director of IRPT Fiona Ní Chinnéide says that such prison sentences make “no social or economic sense.”
It’s a poor use of taxpayer money when community service has proven to be a more cost-effective response, particularly for women who offend.
In sentencing McDonagh, Judge O’Shea said that it’s difficult not to view her actions as anything other than “smart-alec behaviour”.
