Man in Midlands gets prison sentence for stealing three cheap bottles of wine

A man in the Midlands has received a prison sentence after stealing three cheap bottles of wine.

A one month prison sentence was handed down to a man who stole three bottles of wine from Lidl, at Portlaoise district court recently. 

Stephen Furey, 19, of Courtwood Lodge, Rath, Ballybrittas admitted taking the three bottles from the store on June 24 in 2019. 

Sgt JJ Kirby said the defendant walked into Lidl in Portlaoise and selected three bottles of wine before leaving without paying. The wine, which was worth €16, wasn’t recovered, he told the court. Sgt Kirby said the man has 52 previous convictions. 

Solicitor Philip Meagher said his client would have been 16 at the time of the offence.  “He has had an extremely difficult upbringing, no real structure to his life,” he remarked. “His housing situation has been somewhat chaotic” and “he began to rely on alcohol and other substances,” Mr Meagher explained. 

He said the alcohol was taken for his own consumption and 'even at the tender age of 16' he had an alcohol problem.

"It is a sad situation and he has a lot of issues to deal with,” he remarked. Mr Meagher presented a letter from a housing officer at Simon.  

Judge Patricia Nolan said she would treat the matter as a juvenile matter as “when the allegation before the court occurred he would have been 16.” She said the letter from the housing officer was very positive. She sentenced the man to one month in prison.