'What can I say, I did it' -Defendant admits to stealing from Longford businesses

A Polish national has been ordered to pay restitution to the businesses she stole from during a period in which she was described as being “homeless and struggling with alcohol.”

A recent sitting of Longford District Court heard how following the arrest of Ursula Nowak - whose previous address includes Shannoncove, Ballyleague, Roscommon - she replied, “what can I say? I did it.”

Judge Deirdre Gearty gave the defendant a choice of having her case dealt with by a judge and jury in the Circuit Court “given the nature of the charges” or by the district court.

Ms Nowak - who spoke through an interpreter - opted to have her case dealt with by the district court which resulted in Judge Gearty accepting jurisdiction on the matter, meaning it would not be moved to the circuit court.

Ms Nowak’s solicitor Frank Gearty told the court that Ms Nowak was making progress and that she was pleading guilty to the charges before the court.

In response to solicitor Frank Gearty, the judge said, “You may not be familiar with my practice in relation to charge of this nature. My starting point is restitution,” before adding, “She needs to put together the exact amount for the injured parties. Full restitution. They’re entitled to it, the exact figure for the loss.”

Judge Gearty said she would give Ms Nowak “ some time to put that together” and that they could then “begin looking at reports or anything that might need to be done.”

Replied Mr Gearty, “She will pay back what she took. It’s manageable with time. She has moved on immeasurably from where she was.”

He went on to explain that Ms Nowak’s “homelessness had been the principal issue and that alcohol was secondary from that.”

At the request of the judge, the sergeant Enda Daly, acting for the State, calculated the total for repayment, which came to €207.37. Judge Gearty gave Ms Nowak until December 9 to make the payment.

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