Cork woman with 49 previous convictions charged with stealing alcohol from supermarket

A Cork woman with 49 previous convictions who appeared before Youghal District Court charged with several offences had a clean record two years ago, the court was told.

Sergeant Linda O’Leary said Tara Scuffins, aged 51, of Woodlands Grove, Greencloyne, Youghal, Co Cork, was charged with two counts of theft, one count of public intoxication, one count of threatening and abusive behaviour and one count of failing to appear in court.

The court heard on August 8, 2025, Scuffins went into Tesco in Youghal at 6pm and took two cans of alcohol valued at €7 and left the store without paying. At 8.45pm on the same day, Scuffins returned to the store and this time took cans valued at €12.40 and left the store with them but did not pay. 

Scuffins was identified by CCTV footage and later admitted the thefts when she was interviewed by gardaí.

On September 24, gardaí responded to report of a person behaving erratically at Upper Strand in Youghal. When they arrived shortly after midday, Scuffins was found to be highly intoxicated and was unable to stand without assistance. 

Scuffins became aggressive and shouted at one of the attending gardaí: “I’m going to punch you in the face you fucking c**t.” Scuffins was arrested and charged with public intoxication and threatening and abusive behaviour.

The court was told that earlier in the same day — September 24 — Scuffins was due to appear at Youghal District Court in connection with the previous thefts at Tesco but failed to do so and was later charged with failing to appear in court. 

The court heard that Scuffins had 49 previous convictions and was also on a suspended five-month sentence which she received before the incident at Upper Strand.

Defence solicitor James Moore said it was “a sad case” and Scuffins had not been in trouble before 2023. He said “something has clearly gone catastrophically wrong”. 

Mr Moore said Scuffins wished to apologise to the court and to the gardaí and was “in the grip of a very serious addiction and was struggling to deal with it”.

Mr Moore said Scuffins wanted to get treatment and he was “asking the court to give her some hope for the future”.

Judge John O’Leary said hopefully Scuffins would get the assistance she needed while in prison. For the two thefts, he convicted Scuffins and fined her €50 on each count with a default prison sentence of three days.

For failing to appear, she was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison. For public intoxication, she was convicted and fined €50, with a default sentence of three days. For the abusive behaviour, she was convicted and sentenced to two months in prison. Recognisance for appeal was fixed in her own bond of €300.

This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme