Dawid Brachocki, admitted stealing a bottle of wine and packet of pepperoni to the value of £7.75 on November 11.
A Public Prosecutor said the defendant was in Tesco, Strand Road, at 7.20pm on Saturday when police received a report about a shop lifter.
The 27-year-old was said to have been ‘uncooperative’ when stopped by staff for stealing the ‘wine’ and ‘Peperami Minis’. A security guard asked to see what was in his bag and noticed a ‘bulge in his t-shirt’ which he refused to remove.
Brachocki then said, ‘ah f*** it’, before removing the wine and drinking it, quickly followed by the Peperami.
Defence solicitor Paddy MacDermott said his client is a Polish man who lives in Dublin and had been visiting Buncrana. He walked to Derry from Buncrana on Saturday and had ‘no money’. Mr MacDermott said his client was ‘hungry and thirsty so he decided to consume’ the items.
“It wasn’t the most expensive bottle of wine, he could’ve got better,” Mr MacDermott added.
Given the defendant’s lack of record and early guilty plea the defence barrister asked District Judge Barney McElholm to treat him as leniently as possible.
The District Judge enquired, ‘what does one drink with Peperami?’ To which Mr MacDermott suggested, ‘maybe a Barocca’.
The defendant, with an address of New Seskin Court in Dublin, was sentenced to two months in prison, suspended for twelve months, and warned that if he’s back for a similar offence he will receive a custodial sentence.
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