Waterford sisters found guilty of €521 theft at Ardkeen Tesco
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK - 21st March 2011: Front entrance sign of a Tesco Superstore supermarket at the Hermiston Gait Retail Park in Edinburgh. Tesco divide their UK stores into six categories, with superstores such as this one being classed as a large supermarket.
Two sisters have been found guilty of shoplifting, after a three-day trial in Waterford Circuit Court.
Ann Marie Ward (30), of Butterfield Meadow and Mary Ward (34) of 9 Butterfield Court, Waterford, were accused of shoplifting up to 35 items of clothes from Ardkeen Tesco on May 27, 2023.
On the day, a member of staff discovered numerous tags, labels and hangers in the women’s clothing section.
She gathered the materials and left them on the desk of the official security guard. A stock check was taken which revealed that 35 clothing items were missing. The total value of items was €521.69.
When the official security guard returned to work the next day, he reviewed 24 hours of security footage.
CCTV footage showed the sisters enter the premises at 10.28am, move towards the women’s clothing section, and leave at 10.42am. During the 14 minutes, they can be seen stepping in and out of camera blind spots, and picking up various clothing items.
The guard made a complaint to Gardaí on May 30, three days later, and spoke with Detective Garda Sean Lane.
Det. Garda Lane told the court that he had worked in an anti-shoplifting unit for three years, and recognised the sisters from the footage.
Gardaí arrested a Ward sister, not involved in the incident, and who was later released without charge.
When asked to explain the arrest, Det. Garda Lane said that the sisters bear a strong resemblance to each other.
Both Ann Marie and Mary Ward did not enter into their own evidence at the trial.
During the trial, the security guard and Garda Lane were asked by defence counsel why the security tags were not analysed for forensic evidence.
Both parties replied that practice was not used for tags, as they are of little evidentiary value in terms of DNA samples.
In their closing speeches, defence counsels Sarah Jane Comerford BL and Mairead Deevy BL urged the jury to consider the weight of the circumstantial evidence.
Ms Deevy stated to the jury that the case was ‘built on prejudice’ in regard to the defendants and to be aware of confirmation bias.
Ms Comerford stressed that the jury had to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt over the evidence.
Judge O'Kelly said in his charge to the jury: "You must reach a decision by application of common sense, your knowledge of the world.
"You don't have to be 100% mathematically sure because that is not possible in human affairs, but you have to be sure that you made the right decision."
After three hours of deliberation, the jury returned majority 10 to 2 guilty verdicts for both women.
The sisters are currently on bail pending their sentence on July 9.
