A PENSIONER who stole €20 from a woman’s handbag in a hospital waiting area has been described as a “career criminal” who committed a “very low and mean offence”. Judge Eugene O’Kelly said that 67-year-old Anthony Goodman should see “fit for a career change” when he is released from prison next year. Garda Sergeant Donal Cronin told Limerick District Court that when gardai responded to a report of a theft at St John’s Hospital on February 1 last, the accused man was observed on CCTV footage taking a purse from a woman’s handbag as she sat in the patient waiting area of the hospital.
The purse was later found near the adjoining church and Mr Goodman had taken the €20 cash from it. He was arrested a short distance from the hospital.
The defendant, with an address in Cork city, had 164 previous convictions and the majority of offences related to thefts and burglaries spanning a lengthy period. He was currently serving a three-month sentence handed down at Cork District Court for theft, burglary and public order offences.
Defending solicitor Sarah Ryan said her client was a widow and father of two adult children although contact with them had been strained while in prison.
Mr Goodman was awaiting an appointment at the hospital and took advantage of the situation with an opportunistic theft which was particularly “low and mean”.
Ms Ryan added that “he didn’t have any money, he saw it and he took it”. She said her client, who was on free legal aid, could not not pay back the €20 to the injured party as he was in prison.
Judge O’Kelly said that it was “indeed a low and mean offence and one that may have been committed against a vulnerable lady”. Mr Goodman, who said he wanted to re-engage with his children upon release from prison, should now “see fit for a career change as he is currently a career criminal”.
The defendant was sentenced to two months in prison with the sentence to commence on expiration of his current sentence on February 14 next .
