A woman with a ‘significant bench warrant history’ convicted by Thurles District Court

A woman with a ‘significant bench warrant history’ has been jailed for possession and criminal damage.

Sheena Copeland (32) of Stradavoher Court pleaded guilty to possession of drugs and criminal damage.

The court heard Ms Copeland was found with €960 worth of diamorphine for which she was charged on June 3, 2022 at Templemore Garda Station.

Ms Copeland was also caught on CCTV stealing from Tesco in Nenagh and Roscrea.

The court heard on April 8, 2020, Ms Copeland had also broken a taillight valued of €60, which was to be paid in compensation. However, the arresting garda told the court he did not expect that would be paid.

The court was told by a relative of the defendant that Ms Copeland had suffered from addiction for the past ten years.

Attempts to bring her home to get clean had worked in the past. However, Ms Copeland has now relapsed, the court heard.

The witness said that while the defendants addiction had impacted her relationship with some members of the family, there was hope for reconciliation.

However, in passing judgement, Judge Alec Gabbett noted the defendant’s ‘significant bench warrant history’ saying the seven warrants it took for her to appear had required extra sittings of the court.

He sentenced her to nine months imprisonment for possession of drugs for sale and two months for criminal damage to run consecutively.

The judge took the theft charges and failure to appear into consideration. He backdated the sentence to January and imposed a €500 bond, as well as €500 surety, which he said was the same scale as would be set in the High Court.