Repeat offender with 182 previous convictions gets most of jail sentence suspended on appeal

Fionnuala Walsh

A woman with 182 previous convictions who was jailed over a string of thefts and for repeatedly failing to appear in court has had two thirds of her 18-month sentence suspended on appeal.

Patricia Ducie (50), with an address at Gardiner Street Lower, Mountjoy, Dublin 1, had pleaded guilty in the District Court to 22 charges.

These included 12 cases of theft, four for the possession of stolen property, five occurrences of failure to appear in court after being released on bail and one case of being in possession of an article with the intention that it would be used in connection with theft.

The District Court Appeals Court on Tuesday heard that Ducie has 182 previous convictions.

The court was told that in one incident on January 27th this year, €1,100 worth of liquor and drinks were stolen from a Tesco on Maynooth Road in Celbridge, Co Kildare. Gardaí found Ducie along with another man hiding in a bush and she was later arrested.

On two separate occasions, Ducie was arrested in connection with the theft of €132 and €100 worth of chocolates from Butlers Chocolates Cafes. Other thefts involved items stolen from Evoke, Marks and Spencer and Tribe stores.

All of these cases were considered together in the District Court on March 18th, 2025, where the judge imposed a sentence of 18 months with two months suspended.

Seosaimhin Ni Chathasaigh BL, defence counsel for Ducie, on Tuesday told the appeals court that the thefts were triggered by addiction rather than a motivation for financial gain. She said Ducie pleaded guilty to the charges in the District Court and was appealing the charges on severity alone.

She said Ducie had a “bleak” childhood of neglect and this resulted in her experimentation with tablets and crack cocaine.

Ms Ni Chathasaigh told the presiding judge that Ducie has made genuine attempts at self-rehabilitation while she served a sentence in the Dochas centre and she is now free of all illicit substances.

Returning her decision, Judge Catherine White said she would suspend 12 months of the 18-month term handed down to Ducie in the District Court.