Arrest warrant issued over supermarket whiskey theft
Four bottles of whiskey were taken
A BENCH WARRANT has been issued for a Carlow woman charged with stealing whiskey from a local supermarket. Clare Salter, 67 Willow Park, Carlow failed to appear at Carlow District Court, where she was charged with the theft of four bottles of Irish whiskey valued at €88.36.
The court heard that on 8 October 2024 gardaí were alerted by the manager of Aldi, Church Street, Graiguecullen about an incident the previous day. The manager reported that four bottles of whiskey had been taken from the supermarket and provided CCTV footage of the incident.
Garda Bishop told the court he identified Ms Salter on the footage, saying he “knew her through his work for the past year”. Garda Doyle, who initially responded to the theft report, said the manager described the defendant placing the bottles in a black JD Sports bag while paying for other items.
Defending solicitor Joe Farrell, after viewing the CCTV footage played in court, noted that no security alarm was triggered during the incident. He argued it was “unclear (from the footage) whether anything was put in the bag” and pointed out that his 36-year-old client had never been interviewed regarding the charge. Mr Farrell questioned if the court could be certain his client had taken the whiskey.
When Judge Geraldine Carthy addressed these concerns, saying “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck”, Mr Farrell responded: “I can quack like a duck, but I’m not a duck.”
The court heard that Ms Salter has eight previous convictions, the most recent from 8 May 2024 in relation to theft, when she received a five-month sentence, suspended for 12 months. Judge Carthy noted that this was therefore a triggering offence and issued a bench warrant with €300 own bond.
