TRAVELLER organisations have expressed surprise at the severity of the five-year sentence imposed on a traveller for stealing items of food and fuel worth £31.
Judge Harvey Kenny, in Castle bar Circuit Court, Co Mayo, on Wednesday, said that while the amount involved was relatively small, shopkeepers had to be protected from people like the defendant. He imposed the five years on Eddie Conroy, of Knockleigh, Ballina, who was charged with stealing coal, potatoes, a bale of briquettes and four bottles of cider from premises in Ballina.
Mr Conroy, who lives in a caravan, is married with four children. His wife, Margaret, who is pregnant, yesterday said: "I don't know how I'm going to get by with four young children on my own. I hope they can do something about reducing this high sentence."
A spokesman for Pavee Point, the travellers support group, said: "We are a bit shocked by this. It seems disproportionate to the crime. If travellers commit crimes they should be punished, but this should be commensurate with the act."
He said research had been carried out in countries such as Italy, which showed that gypsies received heavier custodial sentences than other sections of the community. White-collar offenders were not treated as harshly.
"Our view is that we are concerned that a person should be given such a harsh sentence. We don't think this is an isolated case, but we haven't done any research on sentencing yet. We don't know a lot about this case except what we read in the newspapers, but we will be looking at it."
The organisation intended carrying out research into the types of crime for which travellers were being sentenced and how they were treated when they arrived in court. "We don't know at the moment. This would put pressure on us to find out if this is an isolated case.
The Irish Traveller Movement has also expressed concern about the case. It has described the sentence as "very harsh" and felt there should be scope to review the severity of the sentence.
Judge Kenny said on Wednesday the State had been put to "enormous cost" because the defendant had opted for a jury trial and then pleaded guilty. While it was every citizen's right to elect for a trial by jury, the case had put 150 jurors to considerable inconvenience, only to have Conroy enter a plea of guilty.
He said there was something seriously wrong with the system when 150 jurors had to be selected, a barrister and a solicitor employed through the free legal aid system, and the Garda put to considerable expense and trouble to prepare a case.
Mr John O'Donnell, defending, said his client did not enter a plea in the District Court because he felt he would get a better hearing in the Circuit Court because of his past record.