Wicklow man has iPhone theft case thrown out after court hears phone may have been his girlfriend’s
The Wicklow PeopleA theft case against a Wicklow man accused of taking an iPhone from a phone repair shop was struck out, after a judge ruled the prosecution could not prove the device did not belong to him.
Rodney Whelan (52), with an address at Bayview, Cornagower, Brittas Bay, County Wicklow, appeared at a sitting of Bray District Court for a hearing.
Mr Whelan pleaded not guilty to one charge of theft from C3 Phone Services in Wicklow town.
The owner of the store, Yun Liang Chen, told the court through an interpreter that on May 15, 2023, Mr Whelan entered his store and said he wanted to buy a phone for his girlfriend, specifically asking for an iPhone 11.
Mr Chen said he placed the phone on the counter before Mr Whelan told him that the phone was actually his girlfriend’s device which she had left in to be repaired a few weeks earlier.
The court heard that Mr Whelan then placed the phone in his pocket before exiting the shop. Mr Chen said he told Mr Whelan to stop as the phone belonged to the business.
However, the court was told that Mr Whelan called his girlfriend while still in the shop and told Mr Chen that he had to find his girlfriend’s phone. Mr Chen said he told Mr Whelan that he did not have the phone.
Solicitor for the accused, Michael O’Connor, asked Mr Chen if he was aware of Mr Whelan’s girlfriend, but he said he had never met the woman.
The court heard that on the day in question Mr Chen had no iPhone 11 in for repair, adding that the model was “hard to repair”.
Mr O’Connor told the court that Mr Whelan’s partner was present and willing to testify that she had left the phone in to be fixed.
Mr Chen also said he had not had an iPhone 11 in stock for a substantial period of time. He accused Mr Whelan of entering the shop at another time and recording a video of him, claiming he would post it online and tell people not to give the shop any business.
He added that he sources his inventory through a friend or through trade-ins, but said his main business involves selling parts and that he usually has around 60 phones for sale in the shop.
Mr Chen told the court that when purchasing phones he normally asks sellers for identification, takes a copy of it and records the device’s identification number on a sheet.
Mr O’Connor asked if he had the sheet from the day Mr Whelan allegedly took the phone, but Mr Chen said that he did not.
The defence solicitor added that Apple is a global corporation and has “probably sold 100 million iPhone 11s”. He then asked Mr Chen if he was aware of what an IMEI number is. The IMEI number stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity.
It is a unique 15-digit serial number assigned to every mobile phone. No two phones should have the same IMEI.
When asked about CCTV and how many times Mr Whelan and his partner had been in the store, Mr Chen said he did not know and that he did not know how to access the CCTV history.
“Coincidentally you have CCTV for the day in question, but not for any other day,” Mr O’Connor said. The court heard that no box for the phone was seen on the CCTV footage.
However, Mr Whelan was later found to have the box for the phone at his home.
The court was told that the IMEI number on the box matched the iPhone that Mr Whelan is alleged to have taken from the shop.
Garda Lynn Roche told the court that Mr Chen came to Wicklow Garda Station and reported that a man had entered his store, placed a black iPhone 11 with 128GB of storage into his back pocket and left without paying.
Gardaí later executed a search warrant at Mr Whelan’s home in December 2023. During interview he refused to comment, with Judge David Kennedy noting that it was his constitutional right to do so.
When Gda Roche asked Mr Chen about the IMEI number for the phone, he said he did not have one recorded.
Mr O’Connor commented that out of all the phones Mr Chen could have given him, it “just so happened” that the IMEI number matched the phone box found at Mr Whelan’s home.
Mr Whelan’s girlfriend then gave evidence, telling the court that her phone had developed an “admin error” after it had been gifted to her by her daughter, who had upgraded her phone at Christmas.
She said Mr Whelan had dropped the device into the C3 Phone store for repair and that she later returned to collect it, adding that she had seen Mr Whelan’s number written on the back of the phone. She said Mr Chen told her the repair would cost €60.
Judge Kennedy commented that the prosecution could not prove its case and struck the matter out. However, he ordered the accused to pay Mr Chen the €60 for the repair.