The Court of Appeal has dismissed John O’Keefe’s appeal against a three-year prison sentence imposed for a planned theft of clothing worth €469 from a Tommy Hilfiger store.
The sentence, imposed by Galway Circuit Criminal Court on 16 May 2018, suspended the final year. In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 25 February 2019, the Court of Appeal said the Circuit Court had given ample credit for relevant factors and found no error in principle.
The court heard that four people entered the store on 19 December 2013 and acted as a team. Two distracted staff while another selected clothing. O’Keefe used a device to break the electronic tags, put the clothes in a bag and passed it to another member of the group. They left without paying.
CCTV footage was used to identify O’Keefe. A store security officer followed the group to a second store, where they fled when they saw him. The officer maintained visual contact with O’Keefe as he went into a public house. A detective garda identified him there, and the store manager also identified him outside. The judgment says O’Keefe was compliant when approached and was arrested and charged.
The appeal challenged the Circuit Court judge’s five-year “headline sentence”, from which the three-year term was imposed. O’Keefe’s side argued that sentences for shoplifting were generally no more than 12 months, and that higher sentences tended to involve greater sums or breaches of trust. It also argued that he should not have lost mitigation for pleading not guilty, or at least not to the full extent. The Court of Appeal said it could not analyse the trial conducted on a not-guilty plea.
The court rejected the comparison with typical shoplifting cases, describing this theft as organised, planned and for profit. It also rejected the submission that previous offences could not aggravate sentence, noting that many of O’Keefe’s convictions related to dishonesty. The judgment records 34 previous convictions between 1978 and 2016, including theft, handling stolen property, burglary, larceny, trespassing, public order and road traffic offences.
At sentencing, O’Keefe was 57 and had medical difficulties, family support, contact with the Pathway Centre and an offer of limited-hours employment. He had also produced €500 in compensation. The appeal was dismissed; the three-year sentence, with the final year suspended, remains in place.