'A nasty thing to do': Thief who stole patient’s jacket at Cork Hospital is jailed

A PATIENT lying on a trolley at the accident and emergency unit of Mercy University Hospital had her jacket stolen as she waited, and yesterday the culprit was jailed for five months, for what the sentencing judge described as an extremely nasty crime.

Judge Mary Dorgan imposed the sentence on Donna Dineen, 29, of Fellowship House, Spur Hill, Cork, at Cork District Court.

The woman pleaded guilty to carrying out the theft. 

Sergeant Dave Delea said the same woman had 67 previous convictions. They included carrying out thefts 15 times before. She also had nine previous convictions for assaults and seven for engaging in threatening behaviour.

Sgt. Delea outlined the background to the offence: “A female patient on a trolley had her jacket stolen by Donna Dineen while both of them were attending the A&E. Ms Dineen took the jacket belonging to the injured party and left the hospital.”

The defendant was arrested and questioned subsequently and she made full admissions to stealing the jacket.

Defence solicitor, Michael Quinlan, said, “She is on remand since March. Her sister died while [Donna Dineen] was in custody in September.”

Judge Mary Dorgan took this mitigation into consideration but commented, “This was an extremely nasty thing to do when a person was at their most vulnerable.”