*Aldi on Francis St was among the stores targeted.
A 13-year old Ennis girl has appeared at the Children’s Court concerning a spate of alleged thefts from retail outlets in Ennis.
At the Children’s Court in Ennis, the young teenager, accompanied by her parents, appeared in court concerning alleged thefts at Aldi on Ennis’ Francis Street on September 13th last and two thefts at Dunnes Stores in Ennis on September 6th and 7th.
Sgt John Burke told the court that “there is capacity for a large number of other charges that are working their way through the youth diversion programme at the moment”.
Asked by Judge Fiona Brennan does he anticipate more charges, Sgt Burke said, “Yes – I believe that there will be”.
Sgt Burke said that the charges currently before the court concern “a spate of offending that has occurred in the last number of months”.
In the case, the teenager is charged with the theft of groceries worth €13.85 from Aldi on September 13th, €85 of baby clothing from Dunnes Stores on September 6th and €38.52 worth of groceries from Dunnes Stores on September 7th.
Solicitor for the teenager, Tara Godfrey told the court that it is not the accused’s mother and father who were the negative influence concerning the alleged thefts but others.
The teenager is now on bail on condition that she obeys a nightly curfew and signs at Ennis Garda Station on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Ms Godfrey applied for a relaxation of the bail conditions so that the child could travel with her family abroad for Christmas and would involve her missing one week of school.
In response to the application to relax the bail condition that the girl attend school every day, Judge Fiona Brennan said, “The court is not relaxing that bail condition because there is a legal obligation on the parents for their child to attend school every day”.
Judge Brennan did relax three other bail conditions from a date range this month to January 5th when the family is expected to return to Ireland.
Judge Brennan said that if the teenager wants to put her best foot forward she should provide a letter from her school for the next court date showing the girl’s attendance at school.
Sgt Burke stated that he “would not be comfortable with any bail conditions that sees her missing school”.
Judge Brennan remanded the teenager on continuing bail to appear at the Children’s Court on February 11th.
