A man with 5 previous convictions who stole a cash box from a charity shop in Portlaoise has been described by a Judge as ‘the lowest of the low’.
The Leinster Express reported that 27-year-old Niculai Danila, who has an address on Belvedere Road but is currently in jail, Dorset Street, Dublin 1, stole a cash box containing €60 from the You and Me charity shop on Market Street, Portlaoise.
A court heard how Danila distracted two elderly women working at the shop before taking the boc of cash that was used in lieu of a till at the shop which a Garda witness said was set up to help the homeless.
Danila is currently serving a prison sentence for a previous offence and is scheduled to be released in February of 2026.
Solicitor Philip Meagher said that his Romanian client would be pleading guilty to the offence and that he has been in Ireland for four years and has experience working for a recycling company.
Handing down a custodial sentence of three months, Judge Andrew Cody described the theft from the charity shop as ‘the lowest of the low’ saying that such shops “provide great assistance to a myriad of charities,”.
He said that anybody who would steal from a charity shop needs to face the “consequences”.