City centre pickpocket pair caught on camera
Unsuspecting women who had their handbags ‘dipped’ by a pickpocket in broad daylight in the city centre while his male accomplice chatted them up, have CCTV cameras to thank for nabbing one of their admirers.
Ionut Necula (29), 44 Deerpark, Tallaght, Dublin, appeared in custody before Galway District Court where he pleaded guilty, with the help of a Romanian interpreter, to stealing a €600 mobile phone from a woman’s handbag in Shop Street on September 5 last, and to stealing another €699 mobile phone and a €200 purse which contained €50, from another woman’s handbag a short distance away at William Street a short time later.
Inspector Brendan Carroll said Necula's accomplice absconded after getting bail.
He said the first woman was walking down Shop Street when the two men stopped and engaged her in conversation. She later realised her mobile phone was taken from her handbag during the encounter.
Meanwhile, another woman was standing outside Brown Thomas when the pair approached her and started talking to her. She realised shortly after they left that her purse and phone had been taken from her handbag.
Both women contacted the Gardai and gave very good descriptions of the accused.
Insp Carroll said the second woman’s phone and cash were recovered but not the handbag.
He said Necula had three previous convictions for similar thefts in Portlaoise, Naas and Longford between December 2014 and last February.
He said CCTV cameras in the area captured the men and with the help of the women’s descriptions, Necula was positively identified as one of the culprits.
“The CCTV was a saviour for these two women,” Judge Fahy said.
Defence solicitor, Brian Gilmartin, said his client had been in Ireland for 14 months. He said Necula was a Romanian national and while there were two of them charged, the other man got bail and subsequently didn’t appear before the court.
He said his client was pleading to the theft charges and had been left “to carry the can”.
Insp Carroll added that Necula had other convictions outside this jurisdiction for robbery and aggravated theft.
Judge Fahy sentenced him to nine months in prison for the theft of the first mobile phone, backdated to when he went into custody on September 5 last.
She imposed a consecutive but suspended five-month sentence on him for the theft of the other mobile phone, which she suspended for two years on condition he be of good behaviour and not reoffend during that time; and to stay away from Galway city and country for the two years.