A COUPLE who sneaked into a woman’s house, smashed a mirror, squirted washing-up liquid over the floor and stole a handbag have been told they could be sent to prison.
Shannen Dempsey (25) and her partner, Carl Marcel Henriette (33), both admitted charges of theft and malicious damage when they appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The offences were committed on 17 September. Legal adviser Paul Lee, prosecuting, said the pair had entered the house while the woman who lived there was out shopping.
The handbag they stole contained make-up, prescribed tablets of diazepam and a Revolut prepaid Visa card.
Mr Lee added: ‘Not content with taking items, for whatever reason they squirted washing-up liquid over the kitchen floor.’
He said the mirror they smashed was worth £80.
Advocate James Bell, defending Dempsey, and Advocate Allana Binnie, defending Henriette, both argued that the crimes were not so serious that their clients had to be dealt with by the Royal Court, but could be handled by the lower court.
Advocate Bell said there had been ‘ongoing difficulties within the parties’ and that Dempsey was acting ‘out of frustration’.
Advocate Binnie pointed out that the value of the items stolen was low, and added: ‘This was a spur-of-the-moment incident. They were in the house for a very short period of time.’
Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris agreed that the defendants could be dealt with by the Magistrate’s Court, but told them: ‘Entering a domestic property is an intrusion on that person’s domain, and crosses the custodial threshold.’
He ordered a probation report to determine whether Henriette and Dempsey were suitable for a community-service order instead. They were released on bail and ordered to return to court on 2 December.
