“I have heard lots of excuses for all sorts of thievery, but even I have not come across genocidal kleptomania”
A former social worker who stole more than £700 of clothes and cosmetics from Marks and Spencer’s because “she believes she was suffering from genocidal kleptomania,” a judge told a court.
A clearly sceptical District Judge Rosie Watters said despite the claims by Clodagh Byrne that “genocidal kleptomania” made her do it, “that’s just a made up condition.”
Commenting that 32-year-old Byrne’s latest offending “is just bizarre really, isn’t it,” Judge Watters told Lisburn Magistrates Court that over the years she had been on the Bench, “I have heard lots of excuses for all sorts of thievery, but even I have not come across genocidal kleptomania.”
“She thought, in all honesty, that she would change the world by stealing £722 from M&S because they’re part of a regime funding the war in Gaza and because they are complicit, she doesn’t consider what she’s done to be wrong,” said the judge, adding that Byrne “has a profile on social media which she considers to be journalistic.”
“Unbelievable,” Judge Watters declared.
Byrne, from the Tullycar Road in Aghyaran, had earlier entered a guilty plea to a single count of theft in that on May 20 last year, she stole “clothing and cosmetics items to the value of £722.00 or thereabouts belonging to Marks and Spencers at Sprucefield.”
Opening the facts of the case on Monday, a prosecuting lawyer told the court how it was the following day when security staff at M&S alerted police to the theft.
She said that having lifted the various items, Byrne put it all in a van and drove away but when officers checked CCTV, they noted that before leaving Sprucefield, she had gone to the drive through at Costa Coffee.
Footage from Costa showed Byrne behind the wheel of the van and she was also the registered keeper of the vehicle.
Arrested and interviewed, Byrne denied stealing the items but in lodging a plea in mitigation, defence counsel Catriona Keenan emphasised the 32-year-old had admitted her guilt at an early opportunity.
Conceding that “it’s a somewhat unusual case,” the barrister said Byrne had worked as a social worker from 2017 until “she stepped away from that to pursue a qualification in alternative medicine in Australia.”
Having lived there for around two and a half years, Byrne returned to NI and has been engaged in that field since. When Judge Watters said: “I think it maybe illegal to provide hallucinogenic drugs,” Byrne shouted from the dock: “They’re not illegal…you need to check the law.”
“I think it would be best if you just stay quiet,” the judge told Byrne.
In continuing her plea, Miss Keenan said that until last year, Byrne had a completely clear record “but was having a difficult time around this period.”
“She lives with her parents in rural Tyrone so enjoy some stability,” she told the judge.
As regards the theft itself, Miss Keenan said while the stolen items were not recovered, according to Byrne she donated much of it to a charity shop the following day.
“She wasn’t stealing out of need or for financial gain, but rather for the reasons she provided,” said the barrister, urging that if the judge was considering a financial penalty, to take into consideration that Byrne is already paying a £300 imposed last month.
In that case, Byrne was sentenced for indecent behaviour after she flashed at a Twelfth parade, as well as charges of improper use of a telecommunication network to send an indecent message and entering Campbell College as a trespasser.
Those latter charges related to Byrne posting a video on social media of herself and a male inside a classroom at Campbell College in east Belfast where she declares: “To my people, you’re not getting to come, nah, British d***heads, British f****** w******.”
The indecent behaviour arose after Byrne, wearing a bowler hat, Orange Order collarette, a basque, fishnet tights and knee-high boots, looks at the camera and then pulls her top down to expose her right nipple for a few seconds as bands and Orange Order lodges march along the Lisburn Road.
Convicting Byrne and imposing the fines, District Judge Anne Marshall said it was clear the offending was centred in “attention-seeking behaviour.”
“We can all be feminists but there is a difference between men exposing their breasts in public and women exposing their breasts in public,” said the judge.
In court on Monday, Judge Watters imposed a five-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, in addition to a £722 compensation order.
Warning that Byrne “will find herself in prison if she doesn’t pay it,” the judge advised the defendant that, “you should definitely keep your appointment with the psychiatrist” scheduled for later this month.
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