Woman gets fine for shoplifting

Still pictures from a store’s security cameras helped convict Ethel Geneta Bush of theft after her recent trial in Summary Court. Chief Magistrate Nova Hall ordered a social inquiry report after finding Bush guilty in December and then fined her $400 on Wednesday. 

Bush, 53, had denied stealing skin cream and condiments with a total value of $21.86 from Foster’s Republix Store in West Bay on 1 April, 2011. Taking the stand in her own defence, she said the items she was buying she put in the bottom of the shopping cart. She wasn’t sure she had enough money for everything, so some items she put on the top (baby-seat part) of the cart, next to her handbag. 

Bush said she was shopping with her fiancé and when she picked up the skin cream he asked her if she was sure she could buy it. She told him she didn’t think so because she had more important things to buy. That was why she put some things on the top of the cart. She said she then left the cart unattended to go to another aisle. 

After she paid for her groceries and was leaving the store, she was stopped by a security guard. He asked to search her handbag and found the items. 

The assistant store manager gave evidence for the Crown. She said she asked Bush how the items got in her handbag and Bush replied that her husband might have put them in the bag. The witness said she suggested that the husband needed to come to the office. “No, it’s okay,” she said Bush told her. 

Photos from store cameras showed a lady pick up the skin cream and place it on top of her handbag in the seat section of the shopping cart. Another photo shows her entering Aisle 1 with the product visible. Halfway down the aisle she is seen putting something in her handbag. As she then leaves the aisle, no product is seen. 

During her trial, Bush complained that the security guard waited until she was outside before he approached her.  

“Why didn’t you come to the register?” she asked him. The guard said it was store policy to wait until the customer goes outside before doing a search. While the customer is in the store, he or she can pay for items, he said. 

Bush also wondered why it had taken police so long to come to her house to question her about the incident. The assistant manager agreed that when she called police to report the suspected theft, she was told officers were dealing with an emergency and there was no one to send to the store right away. 

An officer confirmed that Bush did provide her name and correct contact details. She was contacted at her home the following month. 

Crown Counsel Dennis Brady conducted the case for the prosecution.