A woman who appeared in court recently accused of theft had the charge struck out.
Tanya Kett (33) of 33 Woodlawn Grove, Ballynaneashagh, Waterford, appeared before Judge John Cheatle at a sitting of Waterford District Court recently, charged with stealing items from Tesco Extra, Ardkeen, contrary to Section 4 of the Criminal Justice ( Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001. This related to an incident that occurred on 17 July, 2025.
Sergeant John Phelan outlined to the court that on that day, two women entered the Tesco store, and CCTV identified them picking up items and putting them in a bag. Sergeant Phelan added that the women were then shown at the self-checkout area, where they paid for items worth €81.59. CCTV footage then showed them leaving the store with all of the items and driving off. However, €51 worth of items that they left the store with were not paid for.
The investigating Garda member who examined the footage identified the accused as the owner of the car, but the identity of the other woman was not determined.
Acting for the defendant, solicitor Ken Cunningham firstly stated the accused is currently heavily pregnant, but still made the effort to attend court. He said that on the day, his client was in the company of an unidentified other woman, and that as the accused was paying for her items at the self-checkout, this woman came up to her and added extra items into the accused’s bag without paying for them.
Mr Cunningham highlighted that even though his client was “not responsible” for the theft of the €51 worth of clothes, she still came to court with €60 cash for compensation purposes.
It was noted in court that the accused has six previous convictions for unrelated matters, and was serving out a six month sentence suspended for two and a half years at the time of the offence.
Noting what was said by Mr Cunningham, Judge Cheatle said: “If that was me I wouldn’t let that happen, I don’t buy it.” However, the Judge then took the decision to strike out the matter.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme
Robyn Power
