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 I confess I have very little understanding of the workings of our legal system. However a basic understanding of right and wrong was instilled in me from an early age; the substance of which I committed to memory. I refer of course to the learning of the Ten Commandments, as recorded in the Old Testament Bible books of Exodus (Israelites coming out of slavery) and Deuteronomy (The second statement of Law).
No longer imparted to students in our today’s educational institutions with the same conviction; these same Ten Commandments included one particular strong directive; Commandment No. 8, if my memory serves me correctly, containing just four words “Thou shalt not steal”.
Today a former Bank of Ireland employee has been jailed for one year (12 Months) for stealing €144,000 from her place of employment between the years 2004 and 2012, (which surely says something about banking checks and balances). Note the total amount stolen was just over €144,000. We are informed that the female employee in question paid back everything she stole, however she has lost her job and has been forced to sell her house.
Passing judgement on the case, Judge M/s Melanie Greally correctly stated that activity of this kind, committed by persons in her position, should be marked by an appropriate jail sentence, which she felt was 12 months in prison.
Compare this case to the “Green Jersey” Agenda Court Case.
Now let us look at the comparisons. Three senior Irish bankers, one of whom was from Co. Tipperary, were jailed in 2016 for their role in the collapse of a bank. Their jail sentence was for up to three and a half years for conspiring to defraud investors arising from the 2008 banking crisis. They were the first senior bankers in Ireland to be jailed, following a 74 day criminal trial (Ireland’s longest ever at the tax payers expense). Actual crime committed; conspiring together and with others to mislead investors, depositors and lenders, by setting up a 7.2 billion Euro circular transaction scheme between March and September of 2008, to bolster Anglo Irish Bank’s balance sheet. Judge Mr Martin Nolan, passing judgement, described this conspiracy as a “very serious crime”.
Did our three senior Irish bankers sell their homes or make any restitution, to the same degree, as did our Bank of Ireland employee?
The ‘Banking Crash’ pushed Ireland into three years of a sovereign bailout in 2010 and during our sojourn on this earth it will still take at least another 10 years for us, as a nation, to recover all funding pumped into presently operating banks.
Remember we had to stump up some 64 billion Euro; that is almost 40% of our annual economic output, after our property collapse forced the biggest state bank rescue in the Euro zone.
We are led to believe that, “Justice is blind”. This expression literally means that justice is both impartial and objective. Lady justice, also known as Iustitia, the statue that appears on the exterior of certain ‘Halls of Justice’; she who wears the blindfold (representing impartiality), holds a scales or balance (representing the measuring of the strengths of both sides of any case), and a sword (representing authority), all lead us to believe that justice must not treat close acquaintances differently to total strangers, or indeed rich people better than those penniless.
So, my question, taking into account my failure to fully understand the current principals of the Irish Justice system and the forgetfulness of bankers to remember the ‘Eighth Commandment’, is; “Is the justice metered out here, in both these court cases, fully proportional and equally balanced?”
Gardaí in the mid-west region state they have become aware of a number of counterfeit new style €50 notes, latter which have now been entered into circulation from earlier this month.
A Garda warning states that, “Gardaí at Roxboro Road Garda Station have been made aware of a number of counterfeit €50 notes being used in Limerick and surrounding areas. These new style notes came into circulation recently.”
Gardaí further state “We would like to remind people to make sure to carry out essential security checks on Euro notes. Obvious security features should be identified before accepting notes, these include; Checking for the watermark, Security thread, Hologram Patch and Raised Print. The value numeral on the old style €50 note will also change colour from purple to olive green or brown when tilted if the note is genuine.”
Gardaí invite people to take “a few seconds to feel, examine and tilt Euro notes”, thus preventing fraudsters from passing off these counterfeit notes as the genuine article.
Regular readers will recall we at Thurles.Info spoke about this recently. For those of you who missed that particular post, please click HERE.
Mr Daniel Kelly, aged 24, with an address at Tulla, Capparoe, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, pleaded guilty to arson, causing €77,500 worth of damage, at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court this week. The damage, which was caused in February 2015, referred to a barn and farm machinery on the property of Mr Patrick Scanlan, Garraunboy, Killaloe, Co. Clare.
A co-accused named as Mr Cathal Griffin, aged 26, of Wilton, Ballymackey, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary also pleaded guilty to the theft of property valued at €3,800. All together item found missing included power hoses, a quantity of electric fencing, electric tools, solid fuel and a chainsaw.
The fire destroyed two attached farm buildings, together with housed farm machinery, including two silage trailers (€30,000), one fertiliser spreader (€4,000), one silage spreader (€2,500), and new tractor tyres.
The victim of the crime, Mr Scanlan, explained that a number of tools and equipment, valued at some €6,000 had also been stolen, including an angle grinder and approximately six bags of coal. While some of these items had been recovered; there remained a debt of €2,000 outstanding.
Gardaí identified Mr Kelly as the person responsible, having recovered a number of the stolen items from an other individual, who had received them from the accused. Co-accused Mr Griffin was identified from a silver Nissan Micra car used and recorded on CCTV.
Justice Mr Gerald Keys reserved his judgement in the case and adjourned sentencing to April 25th next.
A court heard today that a Lithuanian male, Mr Tomas Mikalajunas, was accidentally shot in the face and seriously injured by armed Gardaí, when they intercepted an international burglary gang, at a checkpoint between Ardagh and Shanagolden, Co Limerick, on June 28th 2016 last.
Mr Aurimas Petraska, a Lithuanian man, aged 32, with addresses at Kaunas, Lithuania, and Church Street, Rathkeale, Co Limerick; also, a known associate of the wounded man, today pleaded guilty to a string of major burglaries, involving the theft of €150,000 of women’s clothes and ‘Chanel’ beauty products, from pharmacies across the province of Munster.
While Mr Petraska was the only member of the gang to be charged; Mr Michael Collins prosecuting, informed Limerick Circuit Court, of the gang’s precision, military style operations. Dressed in black fatigues and wearing head lights, this gang were observed on CCTV footage inside the premises they were looting; checking their watches, as they limited themselves to strictly a 6 minute operation.
Amongst the premises raided and ransacked were O’Briens Pharmacy, Cahir, Co. Tipperary, where €20,000 worth of Chanel products was stolen, together with products from two other premises; one situated in Co. Cork and one in Co. Limerick.
Mr Petraska admitted using cheap cars fitted out with cement blocks, which were used as battering rams to gain access through the fronts of these business premises.
Mr Justice Tom O’Donnell today, praised highly, members of Cork Division Gardaí, led by Det. Insp. Joe Moore; Det. Gda. Michael Brosnan, and Det. Gda. Ailish Murphy, for their professionalism in tracking the gang over a two-year period, which involved the use of both Europol and Interpol resources.
Mr Petraska, who pleaded guilty to the charges, had his sentencing adjourned to May 5th 2017 next.
A farmer, named as Mr Pat Quirke, aged 49, with an address at Breanshamore, Tipperary, has appeared in court at the Excel Centre in Tipperary town, charged with the murder of lorry driver and part-time Disc Jockey Mr Bobby Ryan, aged 52, in or about June 3rd 2011, at an unknown location.
 The murdered, separated father of two resided in Boherlahan, near Cashel in South Tipperary and had been reported missing by his family after he failed to appear at his place of work at Killough Quarry, Tipperary. His abandoned Citroen van had been later identified in a woodland area of Bansha; located by his daughter Michelle. Mr Ryan’s body was found in a concealed slurry tank, 22 months later, on April 30th 2013, following his disappearance.
The accused Mr Quirke was arrested yesterday (Tuesday March 21st, 2017) at 5.10pm in Grangemore, Tipperary, before being brought to Tipperary garda station, where he was later charged at 6.30pm.
This morning the accused was presented to a sitting of Tipperary district court accused of Mr Bobby Ryan’s murder. Detective Inspector Patrick O’Callaghan informed the court that when replying to the murder charge, Mr Quirke acknowledged he understood the contents of the charge, but stated he didn’t agree with the charge.
Acting in defence of the accused, Solicitor M/s Aoife Corridan stated she would be making an application for bail later to the High Court. Judge M/s Marie Keane remanded Mr Quirke be held in custody to appear at Thurles district court on Tuesday next, March 28th, 2017.
Members of the late Mr Bobby Ryan’s family were in attendance at court for the hearing.
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