Former solicitor to be sentenced for fraud dating back to late 1990s

A former Dublin solicitor will be sentenced in July for three counts of fraud dating back to the late 1990s.

Vincent O'Donoghue (62), of Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to fraudulently converting cheques totalling IR£34,828 (€44,231), which were to be used as deposits on properties in Dublin and Belfast.

O’Donoghue admitted fraudulently converting cheques for IR£4,000 and IR£9,643 entrusted to Property World by Barry Redmond, to put as a deposit towards the purchases of properties at Omeath Street and Portmine, Belfast, on July 2nd, 1992 and November 25th, 1998.

He also admitted fraudulently converting a cheque payable to Property World for IR£15,500 by Ciarán Henderson to be put as a deposit for purchase of a property at Richmond Square, North Brunswick Street, Dublin, on January 22nd, 1999.

The court heard O’Donoghue was arrested in May 2000 but went to Australia in July 2002. Senior counsel Sean Guerin, defending, said his client left the country before he knew charges were pending against him and that his decision to leave had not been illegal.

However Det Insp Gerard Walsh of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation said: “Nobody told him it was all over.”

Det Insp Walsh told James Dwyer, prosecuting, O’Donoghue had been selling apartments when Mr Henderson gave him IR£15,500 as a deposit.

Dealings

He said Mr Redmond’s dealings with O’Donoghue related to properties in the North and UK.

Mr Redmond was defrauded of IR£19,328 over a 10-month period in the late 1990s.

O’Donoghue spent four years in a high-security prison in Australia from 2009 and 2013. In April 2013, he was extradited to Ireland and spent four months in custody before he was released on bail last July. He had been due to face trial in March but changed his plea to guilty less than two weeks beforehand.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring remanded him on continuing bail until July 29th and ordered a probation report on his suitability for community service.

“It’s a way of returning to the community some of the harm done,” said the judge.

She acknowledged the time O’Donoghue had spent in custody both in Ireland and Australia and the fact that he had no previous convictions. However, she said the level of fraud represented a serious breach of trust to Mr Redmond and Mr Henderson, both of whom had never recovered deposits given to him.

She pointed out that O’Donoghue’s guilty plea was very late and meant that the lives of the two injured parties had been put on hold for the last 15 years.

Mr Guerin said O’Donoghue was a qualified solicitor, but the alleged offences had nothing to do with his professional work.

He said his client became involved in property but got into financial difficulties and was declared bankrupt before he left Ireland. His bankruptcy has since been discharged and he is now getting social welfare.

Mr Guerin said it was “regrettable” O’Donoghue was not in a position to pay compensation.

He said his client has separated from his partner and that his extradition from Australia had taken him away from his four children.