Prison sentence for Limerick man who tried to cash stolen cheque at bank
A COUNTY Limerick man who tried to cash a stolen cheque made out for thousands of euro has been jailed for three years.
During a sentencing hearing, Judge Patrick Meghen was told Patrick O'Brien, aged 39, of Hillview Drive, Abbeyfeale presented the cheque - made out for €7,500 - at the (now closed) Bank of Ireland branch in Abbeyfeale.
The stolen cheque was associated with the account of an elderly woman who was living in Mullingar, County Westmeath.
Garda David Stone said gardai were contacted after an employee at Bank of Ireland in Abbeyfeale became suspicious when Mr O’Brien arrived at the branch, on April 24, 2019, and presented the cheque for lodgment into his own account.
He said the defendant’s account was overdrawn and that there was only one previous lodgment. “It raised a red flag,” he said adding the bank worker put a stop on the transaction and contacted her colleagues in Mullingar to make further enquiries.
Garda Stone said it was later established that the cheque was one of four which had been stolen and that it was “clearly never made out” to Mr O’Brien.
Judge Meghen was told another one of the stolen cheques, which was made payable to a different individual “went through” but that the bank has since reimbursed the account holder.
Garda Stone said a garda investigation was launched and that the authorities believe the four cheques were stolen, a number of weeks earlier, by a number of men who called to the injured party’s home offering to clean the gutters.
He said the woman, who has since died, was in poor health and had a practice, at the time, of signing her name to cheques.
“She couldn’t walk, she was poor of hearing,” Garda Stone told Lily Buckley BL prosecuting, adding that she was effectively being cared for by her brother.
Barrister Kenny Kerins said Mr O'Brien, who has a number of previous convictions, did not gain financially from his actions and he submitted there was no evidence that he was involved in the theft of the cheques.
Having noted the defendant’s guilty plea and his personal circumstances Judge Meghen imposed a three year prison sentence which was back-dated to reflect the time Mr O’Brien has already spent in custody.