Suspended sentence for theft of washing tablets and fragrance sets from Longford shops

A 25 year old man has received a suspended sentence in lieu of six months imprisonment for five thefts of items totalling almost €1,000, including washing machine tablets and fragrance sets.

Sebastian Kubaj of Clonturk, Stonepark, Co Longford pleaded guilty to all five charges before Longford District Court.  

The first charge related to September 11, 2025 at Dealz in Longford’s Market Square, where he stole assorted groceries to the value of €120. 

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Three months later, on January 7 this year, at Cara Pharmacy in Longford town, he stole cosmetics to the value of €295.20. 

Two days later, on January 9, he was charged with stealing fragrance sets to the value of €405.50 from Boots on Ballymahon Street. 

On January 17, at Lidl on Longford’s Dublin Road, Mr Kubaj stole “groceries washing machine tablets” worth €105, while two days later, on January 20 at EuroGiant on Main Street, Mr Kubaj stole €60 worth of washing tablets. 

The court was told the total value of the thefts came to €986.57. Items recovered included products from Dealz which totalled €120, and fragrance sets worth €405.50 from Boots, where the accused was stopped by security. 

Solicitor for Mr Kubaj, Mr Frank Gearty, said of his client’s spate of offences, “Well there was the one in September and unfortunately there was an outbreak, in January Judge.” 

In response to Judge Bernadette Owens’ request for an outline of the facts relating to the January 20 theft from EuroGiant, Sergeant for the State, Enda Daly, said, “At 11.20am, at EuroGiant Main Street, Longford, there was a report of a theft of washing machine tablets."

"The defendant entered the shop, concealed them in his jacket and he walked out of the shop passing all points of payment making no attempt to pay. The defendant was  positively identified on CCTV. He made full admissions to the theft.”

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Sergeant Daly confirmed the defendant was subsequently arrested and brought before the court later that same day. The court heard that Mr Kubaj has eight previous convictions for theft.    

Defence solicitor Frank Gearty pointed out that his client “went into custody without troubling the state”.

Mr Gearty added that prior to entering the court system, his client had never received a full proper medical examination of his situation.  

He said a report provided by Professor O’Keefe following an assessment of Mr Kubaj confirmed he was fit to plead, and that he had an understanding that what he did was wrong, “however the report also gets to the kernel of the situation with regard to why he went on a spree of this kind of behaviour”.  

He added, “You’ll see in his report, he identifies the issues, the drink, the drugs, the associated depressive type conditions.”  

Mr Gearty also acknowledged that Professor O’Keefe’s report had noted that the seriousness of the offences justified a prison sentence. He added that his client wanted to offer an apology to all the victims of his crimes and that he would gather the monetary equivalent of the unrecovered items, namely €461, in the coming months to repay to the court.

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Mr Gearty asked the court to consider releasing Mr Kubaj “into the community to afford him time to repay society for what he has done, now that he has seen the inside of prison and knows what it’s about”. 

In response, Judge Owens said there were a number of factors she would have to take into account. She gave credit to the fact that he had pleaded guilty to the charges, also taking into account his month in custody, adding that it had certainly been “a very steep learning curve for him having never been in custody before”.

The Judge noted the support shown by his family who had been in attendance each time he was before the court. 

Judge Owens added that on the other side of the balance sheet, she had to take into account his previous relevant convictions and that he had previously been given an opportunity by the court.

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In respect of the €120 theft from Dealz, Judge Owens convicted and sentenced Mr Kubaj to two months in prison which she suspended for 6 months on his own bond of €250.

In respect to the remaining matters, she directed a probation report to include a community service assessment of 118 hours in lieu of 6 months in prison. 

Mr Kubaj was admitted to bail under strict conditions that he reside at his mother and stepfather’s address, abide by a curfew of 10pm to 7am and sign on at Longford Garda Station on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday for the purpose of checking his sobriety.