High Court quashes eight-month jail term for young mother who stole groceries

The High Court has quashed an eight-month prison sentence imposed on a young mother for stealing groceries from a supermarket.

In May 2021, 25-year-old Manuela Lacatus was jailed by Naas District Court after she admitted stealing €223 worth of groceries from a Lidl store at Sallins, Naas, Co Kildare, on April 30th, 2021, contrary to section 4 of the 2001 Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences Act).

She was pregnant with her fifth child at the time of the offence and it was pleaded in mitigation that the goods, which were recovered, were taken out of necessity.

It was claimed she had attempted to take the goods in a pram and was apprehended while paying for other items.

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She had three previous convictions for theft and handling stolen goods.

It was claimed she and her husband are on social welfare and two of her children have health issues.

The eight-month custodial sentence was subsequently upheld on appeal to the Circuit Court in November 2021.

The Circuit Court paused the commencement of the sentence due to the young age of her fifth child.

Lawyers for Ms Lacatus, with an address at Willowbrook Park, Celbridge, Co Kildare, sought to have the Circuit Court’s decision judicially reviewed by the High Court on grounds that the sentence was extreme and out of proportion.

It was also argued that the sentence imposed was so far outside the normal discretionary limits that it amounted to a fundamental error of law.

It was argued that the Circuit Court seemed to be operating an impermissible “fixed policy” of sentencing shoplifters, who were described by the Circuit Court judge as being “parasites on society”.

This fixed policy, it was submitted, invalidated the Circuit Court judge’s decision to uphold the eight-month custodial sentence.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) opposed the challenge.

Ms Lacatus’s sentence was delayed pending the outcome of the High Court action.

In her judgment quashing the sentence, Ms Justice Niamh Hyland said the lower court’s decision to incarcerate Ms Lacatus “was based on a fixed approach”, which is not permissible.

The Circuit Court judge had stated that all people with previous convictions for theft, will face jail subject to exceptions, she said.

This, Ms Justice Hyland said, amounts to “a failure to analyse on an individual basis the extent to which it should increase the sentence”.

The application of that fixed policy resulted in a decision to incarcerate Ms Lacatus, exclusively due to her previous convictions, and a failure to come within the stated exceptions.

In a case such as this, where a judge has several options, a policy to move directly to incarceration without considering other options “demonstrates a failure to exercise any discretion, having taken all relevant considerations into account”, Ms Justice Hyland added.

The judge said comments made by the Circuit judge during the hearing of the appeal about those who repeatedly steal from shops did not form part of her basis to quash the sentence imposed on Ms Lacatus.

Ms Justice Hyland also rejected the arguments that Ms Lacatus’s constitutional right to be treated with dignity had been breached.

The judge rejected claims that the sentence imposed was excessive to the degree it amounted to an error of law.

The matter will return before the High Court later this month.