‘beggars belief’ | 

‘Businesses will close’ over levels of shoplifting, says judge as he jails man for repeated thefts at Brown Thomas

He was commenting as he jailed a serial shoplifter for six months for repeatedly ­returning to a city-centre store and stealing thousands of euro worth of clothes.

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A judge has said businesses “will start closing” in Dublin because of the frequency of shoplifting in stores.

Judge John Hughes said it “beggars belief” how many retailers were able to ­continue trading given the “very large numbers” of shops with ­multiple theft cases before the courts.

He was commenting as he jailed a serial shoplifter for six months for repeatedly ­returning to a city-centre store and stealing thousands of euro worth of clothes. Nathy Mulumba (39) pleaded guilty to three thefts of clothes worth a total of €3,209 at Brown Thomas on Grafton Street.Mulumba of Lissadel Road, Drimnagh, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court.

The court heard Mulumba went to Brown Thomas on May 8, 2022, selected €470 worth of clothing and entered the changing room.

He removed the security tags, put the clothes in a bag and left the store without ­paying for them.Five days later, Mulumba returned to the shop and this time stole €747 worth of clothes. Then, on May 21, security stopped him as he tried to leave with €1,992 worth of clothing.

These goods were recovered but the property taken in the earlier thefts – worth a total of €1,217 – was not. Mulumba had 87 previous convictions including 32 for theft.

The accused came to Ireland as an asylum-seeker in 2002 but was now a naturalised Irish citizen and was living with his partner and three children, his lawyer said.

He also had five children from a previous relationship and worked as a chef in a city-centre pub until recently.

Mulumba had been “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, and feed a cocaine addiction, his lawyer said.Judge Hughes said a “very large number of businesses” had multiple shoplifting cases before the courts.

“This is not simple shoplifting of a can of Fanta,” he said, “these are serious amounts, running into the thousands.

“Businesses will start ­closing, they just won’t be able to stay open,” the judge said.“It beggars belief how they do continue to trade.”

Mulumba was not responsible for that, but only for his own actions, the judge said.