78 year old grandmother wrongly accused of shoplifting

Maudi

bmwguy wrote: »

It happened to my grandmother a few years ago, she was older than your grandmother. It happened in a large supermarket in Maynooth ( that sounds like Desco!) where a security guard detained her wrongly. I wouldnt say she even knew the word shoplift!! It got settled out of court but was in the region of 10k, she was genuinely frightened and upset over it. Her progress was physically impeded by a heavy handed security man. Only claim I've ever heard of any family member making, so it was because she was genuinely wronged, we're not in the habit of it if people think that. Only look for compensation if you think its warranted though

if it went down the way you said it did o.p i would so so so sue their shops ass..the two dummys wont get the sack but its ker-ching ker-ching for your nan..and she rightly deserves it.go see a solicitor.

Melendez

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Procrastastudy

Melendez wrote: »

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Well we can agree to disagree - your assumption on b) is as (in)valid as mine. Hopefully at least you can see how you're scenario is different to the OP.

How does it matter where they're standing? You need to look at the limbs of defamation. One is identification. Also defamation can't take place in private.

Melendez

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Melendez

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Procrastastudy

Melendez wrote: »

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All true and if you'd have read the thread in it's entirety you'd see I pretty much agree.

However the sales assistants here pretty much fell into the bufoon category - a quick check of the CCTV (assuming it's there) or a quick check of the till audit roll would have avoided the situation.

Procrastastudy

Melendez wrote: »

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That's not what I said.

repsol

Melendez wrote: »

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You are clutching at straws there.The most likely scenario is that one staff member was the accuser and the other was brought along as a witness in the event the theft had taken place.Ironically this witness makes the case for the lady stronger as he would have heard the accusation being made.I don't think a court is going to swallow some improbable scenario where 2 staff members simultaneously and wrongly assumed that a theft had taken place,and then followed the lady home leaving their place of work without speaking to a colleague about where they were going or why.The gardai will have arrived at the house and would not have gone to the door without discussing with the complainant the nature of the allegation,on the street which is a public area in earshot of anyone passing by.

Melendez

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repsol

Melendez wrote: »

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Melendez wrote: »

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Now you reckon,person A saw the alleged theft and person B was "alerted" by person A.
The Gardai are witnesses of the allegation,no others are required.Is the lady expected to carry out a survey of everyone in her town and ask them if they heard her being accused of theft?She could only gather witnesses by spreading the story,increasing the damage caused.I think most people on the thread are in agreement that the woman was defamed and as an earlier poster pointed out,this would not bode well for the shop if the case were presented to a jury.Some have said she should not seek compensation but that is not the same as saying she is not entitled to it.
This going to pan out 2 ways.Either she lets it drop or she goes to law.The shop know they cannot win so will make an offer to settle and save costs and bad publicity.Judges and juries love little old ladies and dislike bullyboy tactics so the shop will not fancy a day in court.

Melendez

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ShaShaBear

I STILL don't see how the two shop assistants just up and left work to follow this old lady home, and she never noticed. Especially since they clearly rang the guards while following her to report it. Something smells fishy

Procrastastudy

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Something smells fishy

MORE defamation of this poor old dear! :pac:

keithclancy

F*ck sake ..

Print out this thread, show it to the Mature Lady.

I think her reply would be something like: Ah, I don't want to cause a fuss.

/thread.

Teagwee

Well, it's not as if her neighbours are twitching the 'Net' and looking through 'Windows' to see her being defamed - not like it may have been IRL

dudara

To be honest, I think this thread has run its course. OP, you can contact me if you want it reopened.

dudara