Judge refuses bail after ‘trolley full of alcohol’ taken from Donegal supermarket

A woman accused of stealing over €500 worth of alcohol from a Buncrana supermarket has been remanded in custody.

Shirley Ward was also charged with thefts from Tesco in Letterkenny and Kee’s Eurospar in Laghey.

Ward was brought before a special sitting of Letterkenny District Court on Saturday afternoon.

The 37-year-old, with an address at Gleanntain Manor, Letterkenny, was charged with three offences contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.

She was charged with stealing property, to wit, miscellaneous groceries worth €557.57, the property of Lidl, Ardaravan Square, Buncrana on January 16, 2026.

She was also charged with stealing €60 worth of clothing from Tesco, Letterkenny Shopping Centre on Christmas Eve and with the theft of €64.98 worth of liquor from Kee’s Eurospar, Laghey on December 28, 2025.

Evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of Ward was given to the court by way of schedule.

Sergeant Michael Devlin told the court that Gardai were objecting to bail in the case. 

Sergeant Devlin said the objection was grounded in the seriousness of the offences, the strength of the evidence and concerns that she would continue to engage in thefts if she was granted bail.

Mr Rory O’Brien, solicitor for Ward, said the vast majority of the €557.57 worth of groceries was alcohol.

“It was a trolley full of alcohol,” Mr O’Brien said, adding that his client has a difficulty with alcohol.

Mr O’Brien said that his client has other matters due before the court in April. He said some matters, “for some reason out of the control of Ms Ward, were not proffered against her when she came before the court seeking to have matters resolved”.

The solicitor added that Ward, who lives in Dublin but has an address in Letterkenny, came back to Donegal as it was the six-month anniversary of the death of a family member.

Mr O’Brien suggested to the court that conditions could be imposed, including a requirement to sign on at a Garda station.

“She is a lady with difficulty, but she can be law-abiding if she takes certain steps - and those steps could be factored into bail conditions.”

Judge Emile Daly said she was satisfied that a refusal of bail is necessary to prevent the further commission of crime.

“I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to refuse bail,” Judge Daly added, remanding Ward in custody at the Dóchas Centre to appear via video link at a further sitting of Letterkenny District Court.

Legal aid was granted to Mr O’Brien.