Woman avoids jail for £500 Asda store raid

A woman who stole nearly £500 worth of food and alcohol from a Belfast supermarket for New Year’s Eve has been given a suspended prison sentence.
The raid took place at an Asda storeThe raid took place at an Asda store
The raid took place at an Asda store

Mother-of-two Klaudia Novakova, 26, was also ordered to pay back the full value of goods she admitted taking in the raid on Asda.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard she went into the store on the Shore Road with two men last December and filled a trolley full of groceries and drink.

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The trio left without paying and made off in a Vauxhall car.

Novakova, a Slovakian national with an address at Ainsworth Drive in the city, was arrested after the vehicle was stopped more than a week later.

Prosecutors said she was clearly identified on CCTV footage from the scene of the theft.

It was confirmed that the total value of goods stolen was £481.26.

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Defence counsel said Novakova has settled in Northern Ireland since arriving seven months ago.

“This has been quite a sobering experience, I don’t think she will be back before the courts,” the barrister added.

District Judge Peter Magill told Novakova: “This was pure theft, plain and simple. You wanted items because it was New Year’s Eve.”

Imposing one month imprisonment, suspended for a year, he gave her 26 weeks to pay back what she stole.

Mr Magill acknowledged: “You are a mother and you are on benefit - that will be difficult for you to do.”