Judge criticises ‘unfairness’ of four-year fraud trial backlog

Judge Patrick Quinn made his comments when sentencing a man who stole €4,300 in 2014 from a small financial services firm that employed him.

Detective Garda Peter Kenny told the judge that there was a large backlog of fraud cases.

Judge Quinn said he was not making any criticism of gardaí, but said it seemed “terribly unfair” for the accused that such a “large gap” would occur.

In the case before him at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Kevin Fay, 42, pleaded guilty to three sample counts of theft from Provident Personal Credit at Ballyboggin Business Centre, Cabra on dates between September 2013 and January 2014.

Mr Fay, a married father-of-two, was working as an agent for the company. He began submitting false loan applications on behalf of existing customers and keeping the money himself.

He stole a total of €4,300 from the company. He told gardaí he did it to get himself “out of a hole” after his other job as a taxi driver “disintegrated”.

He has no previous convictions. Judge Quinn initially said he would jail Mr Fay for three months, stating that he had to deter employees in positions of trust from stealing from their employers.

But the judge changed his decision after Luigi Rea BL, defending, begged the court to give Mr Fay an hour to put together a sum of compensation.

Mr Fay returned to court with a sum of €1,100 and Judge Quinn suspended the entirety of a one year prison sentence on condition that Mr Fay pay the remaining €3,200 back to the company in the next two years.

The court heard Mr Fay is back working as a roofer since 2016 and earns €580 a week. Mr Rea provided a reference from his employer to the court.

Judge Quinn had commented that Mr Fay had enough time before the court date to put the money owed together and added it was almost insulting that he had come to court with nothing.

He said his initial sentence was on the basis that no reasonable effort had been made to return what was stolen.

Declan Brennan, CCC.nuacht