Woman (27) jailed for stealing almost €400 worth of false eyelashes

Woman given three-month sentence for theft of eyelashes from Cork pharmacy

A garda told the court the eyelashes had not been recovered. File photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times
A garda told the court the eyelashes had not been recovered. File photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times

A 27-year-old woman has been jailed for three months for stealing almost €400 worth of false eyelashes from a pharmacy in Cork city last year.

Kathleen McDonagh of Inchera Close, Mahon in Cork pleaded guilty to the theft of €392 worth of eyelashes from Boots Pharmacy in Merchant's Quay in Cork on September 28th, 2020.

On Wednesday at Cork District Court, Sgt John Kelleher told the court that McDonagh stole the eyelashes during a visit to the shop and that they had not been recovered.

He said that McDonagh had a total of 35 previous convictions including 10 for theft and that she had a three-month suspended sentence when she committed this offence.

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Defence solicitor Donal Daly said that his client was the third eldest in a family of nine children but she had a difficult upbringing as her father died when she was just seven years old.

She had also been the victim of serious assault in a previous relationship with a former partner who was currently in custody, said Mr Daly as he pleaded for leniency for his client.

Judge Olann Kelleher said that McDonagh's thieving was not stopping and he had no alternative but to impose a three-month sentence and lift the suspension of the other three-month term.

He sentenced McDonagh to a total of six months in jail but fixed recognisances in the event of an appeal, and a family member lodged a surety to allow McDonagh appeal the jail sentence.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times