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A 65-year-old woman who stole her elderly friend’s bank card while visiting her in hospital and stole more than € 2,700 from the victim over three months has been jailed for four months.
In the months leading up to the 90-year-old victim’s hospitalization, Lynda Goldsmith began withdrawing money from her bank account by obtaining a cash refund while shopping for groceries for herself with her debit card.
He also took money from the woman’s purse that was in a drawer in the woman’s bedroom. How much money Goldsmith stole from the woman’s purse has never been determined, but he told Gardaí in an interview that he believes he stole “maybe 400 or 500 euros.”
Goldsmith had been friends with the woman for 18 months and took her to church services and church lunch every Friday at her local parish in Taney, Dundrum.
She also accompanied the woman to her local kiosks to buy chocolate and the Radio Times and other foods.
At times, the victim was outside the store in Goldsmith’s car while Goldsmith was shopping for her.
Goldsmith of Broadford Park, Ballinteer, Dublin 16 pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Court to four counts of theft of cash and one of theft of an ATM card, which were a representative sample of 31 robberies between the 16 of January 2019 and April 4, 2019.
The court heard that after she stole the woman’s card at the hospital, Goldsmith accepted 70 euros from the woman’s son, which she said the woman owed him in gas money for taking her to religious services.
Goldsmith has a prior conviction for stealing from a woman’s purse while the victim was shopping in December 2015. He also received a reprimand from an adult for stealing € 700 from a family while working as a babysitter in March and April 2007.
Judge Pauline Codd said today that the total taken with the ATM card was around € 2,750 and that the total amount stolen from the woman’s purse was not quantified.
He said it was significantly aggravating that Goldsmith robbed the victim while she was in her sickbed at the hospital and the fact that he had memorized the woman’s PIN while watching her use it showed premeditation to rob him.
The judge said Goldsmith had befriended an elderly woman and took advantage of her trust.
Judge Codd took into account Goldsmith’s guilty plea, his admissions, ill health, remorse and personal circumstances into the mitigation. He noted that Goldsmith had a history of depression and that he had lost his reputation due to his own actions.
Judge Codd imposed a sentence of 18 months and suspended the last 14 months. He said Goldsmith should undergo a 14-month probation supervision and should not fill any unsupervised role as a volunteer caregiver.
Victim impact statement
The victim’s son said in a victim impact statement that his mother no longer wears her engagement ring for fear of it being removed and often complains that her fabric and clothing has been stolen from her home. elderly where he now lives. She sleeps with her purse under her pillow.
He also claimed that Goldsmith made a € 2 transaction with his mother’s card at the hospital while his mother was there ill in bed.
The man concluded his statement by saying that his mother was “a vulnerable elderly woman who was simply looking for a friend” and said that Goldsmith’s actions represented “the theft of her safety and trust.”
Garda Detective Barry Brennan told Gráinne O’Neill BL, prosecuting, that it was first noticed that money had been taken from the woman’s account when she was in the hospital recovering from a fall and noticed her bank card was missing.
His son finally canceled the bank card when he discovered a series of unauthorized transactions on his bank account.
Detective Garda Brennan said Goldsmith admitted in an interview with the garda that he stole the cash because he felt his pension wasn’t going very far and said: “I thought it would be nice to have a little money.”
Additional evidence
Reading a statement about the victim’s impact, the woman’s son claimed that the robberies “had a profound effect” on his mother and her ability to feel safe and trust people.
The man said his mother viewed Goldsmith as a friend and had wanted not to take advantage of the woman’s generosity. She said she believed that if Goldsmith had asked her mother if she could borrow money, she would have helped her.
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She said that when Gardaí asked her if there was anyone who could have access to her money and bank card and Goldsmith would have been the obvious suspect, her mother replied, “Lynda would never do something like that.”
The man noted that when he took his mother shopping once a week, they always withdrew cash from her account so that she could have it during the week for the church collection, her magazine and gas money for Goldsmith.
He said his mother began to think that he was running out of money during the week. “It took me a while to realize it hadn’t been sold out if it had been stolen,” the man said.
Garda Detective Brennan agreed with Fiona Pekaar BL, defending, that her client admitted during the Garda interview and accepted what she had done.
He accepted that she had written a letter of remorse and offered to return the money she stole to the family, but the family rejected the letter and the offer.
Detective Garda Brennan said he knew that Goldsmith’s husband was ill at the time of his arrest and that he died of Covid-19 last May after being hospitalized after a fall last Christmas.
Pekaar said her client, who suffers from depression and arthritis, feels enormous shame for what she has done and the shame it has brought to her family.
The lawyer said her client always had financial difficulties after her husband had to retire at age 42 due to health problems.
Pekaar said Goldsmith’s family was angry with her and, although her son was in court to support her, he is struggling to forgive what he has done.
“At all times she accepted that she shouldn’t have done this. She took advantage of the victim, ”Peekar said.
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