A Portadown man who was aggressive with Tesco staff when he was confronted for stealing has been sentenced to 140 hours of community service.
Guhad Jama, of Hanover Street, appeared before District Judge Rafferty at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday (January 12).
The 30-year-old was charged with theft, attempted theft and two counts of common assault.
The court heard on October 13 last year police received a report of a male having entered Tesco in Portadown.
It was alleged the man had entered the store at around 4:45pm and lifted a number of items valued at £23.79. He then left without making an attempt to pay.
The victim stated that when the defendant was asked to produce a receipt, he became aggressive and pushed him before leaving the store with the items.
At 8:10pm the same day, police received a report that the man had returned to the store.
When staff prevented him from leaving the store he became aggressive and tried to push past. Police then arrived and detained the defendant.
CCTV in the store was reviewed which showed the defendant taking tinfoil from his backpack and wrapping it around the security tag on a bottle of whiskey and placing it in his backpack.
The defendant then became aware that staff had noticed him, so he removed the whiskey from the backpack and placed it on the shelf before moving towards the exit.
He was interviewed in custody and admitted the theft but denied the assault.
Alongside the community service, Jama was also ordered to pay an offender levy and £23.79 in compensation. He was given 10 weeks to pay.
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