Judge says Cork man's 'shocking' record of shoplifting among the worst to come before the court

A judge at Cork District Court said that a young man’s plea of guilty to 19 separate shoplifting offences – many of them relating to property worth several hundred euro – was one of the worst to come before the court.

Judge Mary Dorgan imposed a series of consecutive sentences totaling 15 months on 30-year-old James McDonagh.

As well as the 19 counts of shoplifting to which he pleaded guilty, he had 39 previous including nine for theft.

Shane Collins-Daly solicitor said: “Mr McDonagh is 30 years of age. His partner does not condone anything he has done but she does stand by him.

“He lost his father when he was young. His mother did her best for him. He suffered from addiction to alcohol and cocaine. He has been in the throes of addiction for the past year or so, stealing for no reason or to sell to feed his habit – small amounts of food items, larger quantities of sports clothing and mechanical items.

“He has his name down for Coolmine drug counselling. He has had time to think about what road he wants to go down. All he can do is ask you to be as lenient as possible.” 

Judge Dorgan said: “It is a shocking number of thefts – I’m not sure if it is the worst we have ever seen. Some are repeat offences in the same shops and I have to think of those shops as well.

“He has a very bad record. This is an incredible number of matters.” 

The thefts were all committed between January and August of this year.

Bail was set pending a possible appeal of the 15-month sentence and one of the conditions of bail requires him to stay out of Mahon Point and Blackpool shopping centres where many of the thefts were committed by James McDonagh who now lives at 26 Watercourse Road, Blackpool.