Man who stole €1.8K of ink and cartridges from Cork store jailed

A 46-year-old man who stole ink and cartridges worth €1,800 from Tesco in Youghal was sentenced to two years in jail.

Zara Cautidze, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the theft charge at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, after the district court judge said the case was too serious to be dealt with at the lower level.

Garda Martin Murphy testified that the theft was carried out on April 15.

Judge Dermot Sheehan was told that the accused had been remanded in custody since shortly after the theft.

The two-year sentence was backdated to allow for that.

Defence barrister, William Bulman, said of the accused: “He would have had issues with drug-taking prior to these events.”

He said that the thefts were carried out in an effort to raise money to pay for this habit.

“His family life broke down in Georgia, because of his addictions. He wants to return to Georgia.”

Mr Bulman asked for an order to be made to suspend any sentence, on condition that the accused would leave the jurisdiction and return to his native Georgia.

Judge Sheehan said: “This is an unusual case. It appears to me that this is an addict who was feeding his habit when he did this.

“It is a serious matter from the point of view of Tesco, where there was a substantial amount of stock taken.”

As for directing him to leave the country, the judge said he would leave that to the Department of Justice to organise, if it saw fit.