Kildare woman says she robbed bottle of wine shortly after being attacked

A woman told a Naas District Court judge that she robbed a bottle of wine shortly after she was physically assaulted by another woman.

The defendant made the admission to Judge Desmond Zaidan when she appeared before him on Thursday, May 16  last.

She appeared before the judge for an offence in which she robbed a bottle of wine from a County Kildare shop on an unspecified date (the value of the bottle of wine was also not specified before the court).

The woman pleaded guilty to the offence, and gardaí told the judge that she has no previous convictions for theft.

Speaking directly to the judge, the woman said that she was homeless, and had been attacked on the night in question.

"I was on a bench, when a man walked by me with another woman," she said: "He made a comment about me to the woman, and the woman proceeded to hit me in the face with her phone."

She said that shortly after the assault, she proceeded to walk into the shop and attempted to shoplift the bottle of wine — "I wasn’t in the right mind," she told the judge.

The woman further said that she went into a nearby garda station to report the incident, but later decided not to press charges against the woman.

In addition, she said that she had quit her last job because of a bereavement in her family.

Gardaí said that the bottle of wine was not recovered.

After listening to the woman’s testimony, Judge Zaidan commended her for her honesty.

He noted that the facts were proven but ultimately decided to strike-out her case without prejudice.

The woman thanked Judge Zaidan for his decision.