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Irish Examiner
5 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Catherine O'Brien a devious liar who preyed on a vulnerable man, deception trial jury told
The prosecution has claimed the deception case against Catherine O'Brien showed her as a devious liar who had preyed on a vulnerable man. Prosecution counsel Conor O'Doherty made the claim in his closing speech on Wednesday in the trial of the 47-year-old, who is accused of deception relating to the purchase, transport, and insurance of a French mare called Lingreville. The jury went out to start their deliberations at 3.49pm on Wednesday afternoon. It is alleged Ms O'Brien 'dishonestly by deception' induced Dubliner John Blake to pay €20,000 to purchase the horse — which the State alleges was not purchased; to pay €1,100 insurance for the mare — which the State says was not paid; and €984 to transport the horse from France to Ireland — which the State says was not transported. Ms O'Brien, of An Grianan, Ballinroad, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to the three charges of making gain or causing loss by deception contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. On Wednesday morning in Waterford Circuit Court, Mr O'Doherty told the jury Mr Blake had been drawn in to a 'well of deceit' by Ms O'Brien. He referenced a settlement document which was signed by Mr Blake, Ms O'Brien and Ms O'Brien's business associate John Walsh, of Bishopstown Stud, Lismore, Co Waterford, on October 14, 2021. The document outlined the horse purchased by Mr Blake was a brood mare called Shamalana, which had been 'incorrectly named in purchase negotiations with Mr Blake as Lingreville' and he would receive €22,000, which was paid to him the following day. Mr O'Doherty said if the condition for Mr Blake getting €22,000 back 'was to say he stole Shergar, I think he would have signed it". He said Ms O'Brien's evidence and that of defence witness John Walsh did not tally with each other. He also said there were no documents produced in court by Ms O'Brien to support her evidence. He alleged the accused and a woman called Amy Power were both using a mobile phone number, which the accused admitted to gardaí in 2019 was her number. Mr O'Doherty said 'Catherine O'Brien was using an alias, using a false name'. He added Mr Blake was a deeply religious man who was 'being constantly preyed upon' by Ms O'Brien. Addressing the jury, Mr O'Doherty said: 'John Blake had complete faith in her and Catherine O'Brien knew that and manipulated that to her own gain.' Defence counsel Simon Donagh, however, told the jury that 'in a nutshell, the defence case is that there was no deception, it was a mistake'. He continued: 'Yes, Lingreville did feature on a text message. It was a mistake'. He told them while they may not accept everything she or defence witness John Walsh said, their decision must be 'beyond all reasonable doubt'. He added: 'Yes, money went from Mr Blake to the bank account of Ms O'Brien. That does not mean that that was done dishonestly.' Mr Donagh said Mr Blake signed the settlement document 'voluntarily and following legal advice'. Mr Donagh said the jury had an incomplete picture of the communications between Mr Blake and Ms O'Brien because 'none of Mr Blake's two phones were properly analysed'.
Sunday World
26-04-2025
- Sunday World
‘Naive' teenager tried to travel to the USA on his friend's passport, court told
At Ennis District Court, Judge Alec Gabbett imposed 80 hours community service in lieu of four months in prison on Aaron O'Brien (19) of Innishannon Road, Fair Hill, Cork. A 'naive' teenager tried to get through US Customs & Border controls at Shannon airport to board a US-bound flight with a friend's passport who "he looked a bit like', a court has heard. At Ennis District Court, Judge Alec Gabbett imposed 80 hours community service in lieu of four months in prison on Aaron O'Brien (19) of Innishannon Road, Fair Hill, Cork. This was after Mr O'Brien pleaded guilty to having in his possession an Irish passport in the name of Jordan White which he knew to be a false instrument on November 5th at Shannon airport with the intention to inducing another person to believe that it was genuine contrary to the Section 29 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. Judge Gabbett commented: 'Mr O'Brien is not a candidate for custody notwithstanding the seriousness of the offence." Read more Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre dies aged 41 Solicitor for Mr O'Brien, John Casey told the court 'this is not the Hutches or the Kinahans going in and out of Iraq and Iran'. Mr Casey said that Mr O'Brien 'did not have a hope in hell' in getting past US border controls at Shannon with his friend's passport. Judge Gabbett said that Mr O'Brien was fortunate that there is a US border control at Shannon airport and was not allowed to get on the departing flight as he could have faced a few nights in custody at JFK or Logan airport if the US border controls were based on the other side. Mr Casey explained that Mr O'Brien's wife was on holidays with her family in the US and was pregnant and fell sick. Mr Casey said that Mr O'Brien got a short term visa to go to America and he went to Dublin airport and when he got there for whatever reason, as he has no previous convictions, he was told that he was not travelling. Mr Casey said that Mr O'Brien went back down to Cork and got his friend's passport and went to Shannon airport and he was stopped there and Gardai got involved when Mr O'Brien tried to get through US border controls. On his friend's passport, Mr Casey said that Mr O'Brien 'looked a bit like him alright'. Mr Casey said that Mr O'Brien never thought it out and he just wanted to be with his wife and she is heavily pregnant now and did get back home. Mr Casey said that it was Mr O'Brien's first trip to the US. Judge Gabbett said Mr O'Brien was obviously naive in trying this "as anyone who has been through US immigration knows that your face is scanned, your hand is scanned and fingerprints are taken'. Judge Gabbett said: 'I get why he did it because of his wife falling ill and his own passport not going to work." Judge Gabbett said that he had to convict Mr O'Brien of the offence as the Irish passport is sacrosanct and allows travel to 120 countries without a visa.
