Jail for financial controller who stole €270,000 from law firm

Counsel for Donna Magee asked that she be given a week before starting her sentence in order to make arrangements for her 14-year-old child. This was refused by Judge Martin Nolan, who said it was “too serious an offence”.

Magee, with an address in Holyfields, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stealing in excess of €270,000 from her former employers. She did so over the course of several months by making transfers into her own bank account.

The 47-year-old mother-of-one worked as a financial controller at O’Mara Geraghty McCourt Solicitors in Dublin between late 2007 and June 2009, before irregularities in the firm’s accounts were discovered.

In court on Friday, Judge Nolan said: “She was in a position of trust and she abused that trust…It was a dreadful thing to do.” He handed down a three-year sentence but suspended the final 18 months.

Elva Duffy BL, prosecuting, said Magee had a “very significant level of control of the running of the accounts” and made payments to herself through systems that appeared to be legitimate but, in fact, were not.

On one occasion, Ms Magee made a payment of €101,000 to herself, which was intended for one of the firm’s clients in the UK, which was due to the client from a relative’s estate.

When the firm contacted the client, they were told the payment was never received.

On another occasion, on June 24 2009, Magee transferred €55,000 to her own account, which was intended as a VAT payment to Revenue.

“Effectively, her tracks were covered in the ways the monies were managed,” Ms Duff said.

Det Gda Sean O’Riordan told the court Magee had full authority to do the transfers.

He said as part of the investigation, Magee’s accounts, which held €173,000, were frozen. This amount was eventually recovered by the firm, so there is still approximately €100,000 outstanding, he said.

Magee has a number of previous convictions in Northern Ireland, including forgery dating back to 2002. She served nine months in prison in 2014 for offences committed in Northern Ireland.

Bernard Condon SC, defending, said Magee was the sole carer of her daughter. He said she worked hard to rebuild her life and gain sole custody of her child after she was released from prison in 2015.

“Her genuine reason to exist is her daughter,” Mr Condon said. “She worked long and hard to get sole custody.”

Her husband had issues with gambling, “so the pressure was on her to provide”, Mr Condon said.

Ms Magee was put under a lot of pressure in relation to loans that her husband had taken out, and she said she only took the money in order to pay her husband’s debts.

While working at the solicitors’ firm in Dublin, she would leave her house at 5.45 every morning, to get a train, bus and taxi to the Dublin office for 8.15. She would then return home to Northern Ireland every evening to make dinner and help with homework.

Magee has described her life as a “conveyor belt”, said Mr Condon.

“She’s had serious problems in her life. But it benefits the court to look at her now – nine years since she worked in the Dublin firm,” said Mr Condon.

Mr Condon said a psychologist’s report said Ms Magee had a “tough Northern upbringing”, growing up in during the Troubles, with a father who struggled with alcohol issues and violence.

The doctor’s report, read out to the court by Mr Condon, said that at first glance, it appeared Ms Magee was stealing for personal gain but “it appears she was overwhelmed by her partner’s debt situation. … This woman is crying out for help and is genuinely overwhelmed”.

Mr Condon added: “She does appear to be a vulnerable woman who can be used, as she was by .”

He said there was no explanation as to why the case has taken nine years for this case to come to court.

Liz Farsaci, CCC.nuacht