That would never happen…
09/10/2009 -
A man who defrauded 12 potential tenants of almost €30,000 in a South Dublin apartment scam has today been given a three-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Joseph O’Connor (aged 48) of Decies Road, Ballyfermot, also used forged bank drafts and a forged driving license to buy second-hand vehicles before selling them on to car traders.
He pleaded guilty to five sample charges of inducing named people to pay him either €1,150 or €2,300 for the lease of an apartment in The Sweepstakes, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, on dates between April 15 and April 18, 2006.
He also admitted to using false instruments and a forged license at the Red Cow Inn car park on March 3 and February 28, 2007.
His previous convictions included offences of larceny, theft and fraud, and road traffic. He is awaiting sentence in Carlow Circuit Criminal Court in relation to another fraud offence carried out in Kilkenny.
He was due to be sentenced several months ago but Judge Katherine Delahunt adjourned it to last Monday to allow him complete his treatment for alcoholism.
However when O’Connor appeared in court on Monday he was drunk and sentencing had to be postponed until today.
Judge Delahunt said she “has absolutely no doubt a custodial sentence is appropriate” but took into account O’Connor’s emotional state at the time of the offences due to the death of his partner.
She said she would give him limited credit for avoiding a trial which would have been “difficult in both time and resources”.
Referring to the apartment scam, she added that O’Connor “was not the guiding hand but played a significant part in the deception”.
She sentenced him to three years for the apartment scam with the final year suspended on condition he engages with the Probation Service and undergoes alcohol treatment. On the car scam, she imposed a two-year sentence to run concurrently with the other term.
His accomplice in the apartment scam, Richard Deane (aged 53) of Kilmore Road in Artane was previously given a one-year suspended sentence for his role.
Inspector Colm O’Malley told Ms Caroline Biggs BL, prosecuting, that the apartment was on the books of a city centre auctioneers and another person leased it from them using false documents relating to a real person.
Gardaí were satisfied that this person knew nothing about the scheme and that O’Connor was not authorised to lease the property.
The apartment was then advertised in both national newspapers and websites with a mobile number for interested parties to contact.
O’Connor, purporting to be a man named Alan Brogan, then showed each of the potential tenants around the apartment before meeting them in various pubs or cafes around Dublin. He handed them keys, a lease and a digital code for the apartment after taking deposits and one month’s rent in advance.
When these people turned up at the apartment they found that neither the keys nor the digital code worked, and gardaí were contacted.
Insp O’Malley said gardaí received confidential information identifying O’Connor as the culprit and he was arrested in Clondalkin on March 9, 2007.
Mr Sean Gillane BL, defending, told Judge Delahunt that “the heart of this deceit” was that it preyed upon people who wanted to live in this desirable apartment in an affluent part of Dublin.
He said that these people, who later told gardaí they had been suspicious of O’Connor because he smelled of alcohol, had shaking hands and had spent each meeting drinking heavily, “suspended their beliefs” to lease the property.
Sergeant Ronan Dunne gave evidence that O’Connor phoned Martin Duffy and offered to buy his Ford Mondeo which had been advertised in an evening newspaper. He met Mr Duffy several times before giving him a bank draft for €10,250 for the car.
When Mr Duffy went to cash the draft he discovered it was a forgery. Meanwhile, O’Connor sold the car to Motorpoint car dealers for €4,250.
When Martin Ginley advertised his Ford Transit van, O’Connor met him and gave him a bank draft for €9,100 for it. The draft was again found to be false and O’Connor sold the van on to the Irish Van Centre for €6,700.
When the scam was discovered the cars were returned to their owners and the traders were left with nothing. Sgt Dunne said O’Connor was arrested while he was in custody for the apartments scam. He made full admissions and apologised for his actions.
O’Connor later told gardaí in interview that his fiancé had died suddenly. He started drinking, lost his home in Galway and checked himself into a psychiatric hospital.
He said he was in a poor state financially and felt that the scam was “his only way out”. He admitted that he was involved in this fraud with others and claimed he had been given the keys by “an associate” whom he was afraid to name.
O’Connor told gardaí that after he collected the cash from these people he left Dublin and went to London.
Insp O’Malley agreed with Mr Sean Gillane BL, defending, that there were other people involved in the scheme, “three at least” and that “the more sophisticated elements” of this enterprise had been carried out by them.
He further agreed that the money O’Connor had defrauded was shared amongst the others involved in the scam.
Insp O’Malley accepted that it was possible that O’Connor had been selected by his associates because he was not well known and “the chances of him getting away with it were higher”.