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A TAXI DRIVER who stole €75,000 from the bank account of an elderly customer with dementia has been jailed for two years.
Trevor Walsh (53) used Pamela O’Brien’s bank card and forged her signature on bank documents to steal the money. O’Brien had used the taxi driver to take her to the shops and later run errands for her, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
The court was told that the 83-year-old victim has dementia and is now in a nursing home. The thefts came to light when two friends of Mrs O’Brien helped her to look at her bank statements and noticed a number of unusual transactions.
Walsh of Rochdale, Honey Park, Kill Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, went with Pamela O’Brien to PTSB bank to set up a second bank account. He then forged documents to authorise the transfer of monies from her old EBS account to this new one.
He used the account to pay a number of utility bills and used her bank cards to make cash withdrawals of up to €500.
Walsh also forged a letter to direct the bank not to send bank statements to Mrs O’Brien’s home. Judge Pauline Codd said this showed a level of deviousness and calculation.
Walsh admitted five sample counts, from a total of 21 charges that span a 21 month period up to September 2015.
The charges include theft of €500 at the PTSB on Georges St., Dublin, theft of €733 at the Credit Union in Ballybrack, Dublin, and stealing €160 at Sallynoggin Post Office, Dublin.
Detective Garda Richard Redden told the court that the total amount taken in the 21 months was €75,000.
Judge Codd said the the elderly and vulnerable had to protected. Walsh knew O’Brien relied on him and his crimes were a significant breach of trust, she said.
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She suspended the last year of a three year prison term on condition that Walsh attend alcohol addiction programmes under The Probation Service.
Detectivet Garda Redden told the court that on 9 September 2015 he went to the EBS in Dalkey and met Mrs O’Brien. He said she was confused and distressed and he learned she was suffering from the early symptoms of dementia.
Walsh was identified on CCTV withdrawing the cash from her account. Redden told the court that Walsh was a taxi driver who Mrs O’Brien had used to take her to the shops and elsewhere.
She had first availed of his service by simply calling the local taxi firm and later began ringing him directly. Later again, he began running errands for her and these included using her bank card to buy groceries.
When arrested, Walsh admitted the thefts and said he had a drinking problem. He said he had used the bank account to make small day-to-day purchases and was shocked at the total amount taken.
Kieran Kelly BL, defending, said his client is a married father whose wife and children were in court to support him. He said he is a working man with no previous convictions and he asked the court to give him an opportunity to pay the money back.
Walsh brought €4,000 to court to give to the victim, who was not present. Counsel said his client has significant health problems and has been unable to work of late because of stress about this sentencing hanging over him.
Judge Codd asked counsel what was the point in adjourning it to give him time to make more payments if Walsh was unable to work.
She noted that Walsh was previously a man of good character and testimonials described him as a kind, caring person and a trustworthy employee.
Judge Codd said his relationship with the victim had no doubt started out positively with him assisting her. She said he later fell into temptation while battling with alcoholism and noted he is now sorry for his actions.
Detective Garda Redden told the court that there has been no recompense from the banks involved to the victim. Walsh and members of his family sobbed in court as the jail term was handed down.
They’re already putting dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) in the pipes.
DHMO is a known causative component in many thousands of deaths and is a major contributor to millions upon millions of dollars in damage to property and the environment. Some of the known perils of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:
- Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.
- Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
- Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.
- DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
- Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
- Contributes to soil erosion.
- Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
- Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.
- Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
- Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
- Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere, and in hurricanes including deadly storms in Florida, New Orleans and other areas of the southeastern U.S.
- Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.
Personally I don’t think lead pipes in houses are a big issue. If all the mains lead pipes are replaced then the the only bit of lead pipe you might have is the length of pipe from the footpath outside your house into your kitchen tap. Water needs contact time for the lead to migrate into your drinking water. Modern houses have washing machines, heating systems, flush toilets and dishwashers, so there is a constant flow of water into the house and the contact time for the water in this short length of lead pipe is pretty minimal. As an extra precaution, first thing in the morning or when you come home after work, let the tap run for a minute to flush out the water that may be standing in the pipe for a few hours before drinking the tap water.
The ortho-phosphate thing will never run as there are currently too many leaks in the water supply (40% lost) and they would ultimately be in breach of the water directive for adding phosphate to (indirectly) to rivers and ground water.
Ah yes the usual weekly report from mainstream media quoting Irish water as the responsible body, completely ignoring the fact that on the ground it’s actually the beleaguered local authorities who still man the pumps, all Irish water have done is add an extra duplicated layer of bureaucracy and contracted out an expensive metering instalment process
@ The Journal – any chance you can do an article on Irish Water being prosecuted and fined for poisoning approximately 3000 fish in a tributary of the Tullamore river? mostly Trout with other species such as salmon and lamprey?
It was only published yesterday Journal, so it might take a month for you lot to find the story, heres a link to it though…..# http://www.fliuch.org/irish-water-prosecuted-over-midlands-river-fish-kill/
Give the people a referendum, sack the gravy train staff Enda appointed, stop the regressive billing & use the 8 billion in reserves offered by the credit union to finally modernise Irelands water network. In fairness
Irish Water got enough money to do the job. Instead of starting to make the water drinkable they wasted millions on meters which are not in use. In my country,when we started to pay for water they placed meters on the pipes, not in the ground and under roads. It lasted about ten minutes for two people to install one meter. It takes a week in here, large group of “workers” and broken roads and footpaths. That’s where the money went. Absolute mismanagement.
“Bit hard to do that when nobody’s paying, in fairness.”
You’ve got to love the Blueshirt Tory supporters, it’s the people’s fault ,not the years of governmental mismanagement.
Here Neal you’re here long enough to know the story so why do you insist on using this falsehood of “nobody’s paying”. Although this coming from a man who thinks he’s a comedian yet he’s as about as funny as an STD.
Irish Water need another 1.2 billion (conservative estimate) to lay a new water pipeline from the Shannon to Dublin. No wonder the gov are angry at the water tax revolution.
The farmers are also objecting to the pipeline because (although they will be generously compensated for the pipe which will be 4 metres below ground) they look upon it as a “resource grab” which will be sold for untold billions down the line.Cunning farmers..they are right!!
Jindrich,they were afraid that none of the installers would be allowed inside the houses to put a meter on the pipes. Also it would be easier to divert water into an unmetered pipe.
It is not so easy to divert the water in such a manner that control would not find it. The way I am talking about works in many EU countries, and it works. In here, we got meters but all paying the same. I pay for my shower as much as those with swimming pool inside their home. It’s all the same.
Phosphoric acid is one of the main ingredients in Coca cola and every other cola product. Thats the stuff that cleans the rust and dirt off the coins and keys. It’s also the bit that rotts your teeth. But you can’t complain if you are a coke drinker. That’s a bit hypocritical.
Thought they were gone. FF/FG will use media in every way to keep them relevant. Soon to reintroduce charges in new way.. Try understand Me hole and ends , the bankers charge that broke the Irish back will never be accepted ..
Do you sell any lead free piping for use by water service companies?. They might find use for some of it before charging for water, horse before cart and all that lark.
Andrew you should watch blue gold or many other documentaries that are made on the subject. Big corporations are grabbing as much fresh water as they can all over the planet.
Oh FFS we already have fluoride to contend with, that’s all we need another chemical!!! As if incidents of cancer sent high enough. Just once I really like someone in these positions to make an actual informed, intelligent decisions that doesn’t involve more poison !!!!!
So what are you saying? That flouride is the only chemical added to water? And that no chemicals should be added because all chemicals are bad? There are at least seven different chemicals added to water at the moment, without them you would probably die from drinking the water. But carry on with your ignorance in thinking all chemicals are bad.
Water itself is a chemical for God’s sake. the lack of knowledge people have about their water is staggering.
Fluoride is mined from the mineral fluorspar and that type is used in Ireland. It can also be made through an agricultural side product process and it has no chemical difference, also last time I checked chemicals don’t remember how they were made
What a load of crap !! Cllr Ciaran O Moore fought and got a grant for the removal of the pipes fifty thousand is the limit not 70 water can be tested for 10 euro in the national test center at old Patrick Dunns hospital Dublin bring 2 samples and results take 10 days belive nothing from Irish water fact been they broke the pipes allowing the lead into the water
First thing Irish Water did was spend millions putting in meters instead they should of replaced all lead pipes, now they want to put chemicals in the Water. Good lads
Already force medicate us with a known poisonous neurotoxin and pretend its good for teeth LOL. Let me worry about my teeth and take tge csncer causing poisonous filth fluoride out
It’s not anti science to logically come to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to replace the lead pipes, not add a particular chemical to the entire water network.
Are you saying people shouldn’t be worried about a continuous ingestion of phosphates or preservatives? Yeah water is a chemical. PCBs are too – see the difference? it’s not an anti science, anti chemical brigade. It’s an ‘anti enforced ingestion of man-made chemicals that could potentially be harmful’ brigade. I’d wait for more safety sureties than just Irish water and USA. After all USA has a history of being too late to ban harmful chemicals.
@mise Eire Replacing the lead pipes will take €400m and 10 years to replace the pipes. It is anti science (and illogical) to leave system as it is cause orthophosphate is a “chemical” and is therefore some how bad or evil
@ross Do you have any reason to be worried Ross, other than a general ignorance if what “man made” means? I’ve got some naturally occurring 100% organic lead here, you want that instead? Completely natural!
I understand what you’re saying however, those who currently are charged with making these decisions could simply petition Michael Noonan through their department to get the Government to issue a 10 year bond for €400m and roll over the debt with a re-issuing into the future meaning over time the cost is offset by inflation. How do you think Ireland still has the lights on post crash? Extend and pretend. Keep a steady ship and look presentable to FDI. But we sold ourselves short and let key assets be sold off far below replacement cost. It is a clear political policy of those in decision making positions to privatise key national infrastructure to repay private funds and oligarchs who bankroll certain political parties. Sometimes the private sector are more suited to running certain things. Other times for various reasons such as national security or energy security the state needs to run and control national infrastructure. Watch what is about to happen with broadband infrastructure in Ireland.
IW telling us that we need to add additional chemicals to our water supply to mitigate the risk of contamination from lead piping. What about if the €1.2 Billion of our money used to create this useless quango was spent on replacing lead piping, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
It’s like paying a consultant €2000 to tell you what’s wrong with your car when you could have gone to a mechanic and got it fixed for €1000.
Right, so all the years that the various councils knew about this and did nothing is IWs fault? So you want everything to back the way it was, to Councils that never developed lead mitigation measures, that did not resolve the continuance of foul water to enter our streams and rivers untreated? Yeah that’s a good idea. Spend millions wasting money changing everything back to what it was, to a system that did not work. Throw away all the advances in IT and data management that IW are investing in to drag our water services up to standard all because a minority of people did not want to pay for water? Totally. I agree with you.
wont take much to control yours and the minds of supporters of the political class in this country, in fact I doubt they will even need to use any chemicals, ud have to be able to think for yourselves for them to work in the first place…..
The journal at their usual psy ops bull on behalf of the Fine Gael National corporate party. Great idea pump chemicals into the water along with the HSE drugging the nation with fluoride into the water too. Irish Water are vermin who’s the crowd supplying the chemical ? Why don’t you tell us that instead of your usual rhetoric. The gospels according to Denis and Sutherland. Gutter Journalists
This is a joke because Existing lead pipes already have a coating that has built up over the years , putting another chemical in our water could potentially release this coating from the pipes and have a disastrous effect on the water we drink . For Irish water to coat or seal the lead pipes they would first have to clean them , its not possible to do .
They should add lithium too… Studies show there are significantly less crazy and depressed people in areas of naturally high lithium in the water supply.
Get bent irish water..if they work for the irish people they must do the job..thats like the council asking for money to cut the grass..just fk right off.
Why don’t the government tell us where the fluoride they medicate us with comes from ? Who gets paid to offload their filthy poison and then our government put it in our water because they care about our teeth LOL
Phosphoric acid is in Coca Cola and noone seems to care about that too much, or have noticed adverse effects. Sugar -related effects, yes, but not from the flavourings.
We have dihydrogen monoxide coming out of our pipes. It’s lethal in large amounts, especially if it fills the respiratory tract. Millions of people have been directly killed by it. Many others have died because of a dependency on dihydrogen monoxide.
Philanthropists such as Denis O’Brien and numerous politicians have imposed severe double charges on users to limit their exposure to such a nefarious chemical. His altruistic intentions for the people of Ireland are in vain, as the people just can’t seem to do without the stuff and resist charges. Being charged twice for dihydrogen monoxide is for the public’s protection, not a sinister opportunistic way to screw money out of his fellow countrymen. O’Brien’s not paying a penny tax proves the charitable status of his actions.
Yes, the Irish Government have added a mystery “zombie chemical” to the water supply that takes over the minds of the populace and convinces them to re-elect FG.
Any chance of Irish people growing up and paying for the water they use, and being financially punished for wasting water? That water that is supplied to your tap costs money. Otherwise stop being parasites and walk down to the pump/well and get your own water.
By all means punish Fine Gael for the ineffably incompetent and corrupt way it set Irish Water up to look after “the lads” via massive consultancy contracts and overstaffing and then trying to privatise it down the road.
How apt that such mé féiner parasites are the representative government for their equally parasitic anti-water charges opponents. I despair at the shortsightedness of the Irish people.
@ sean og, er sean just a reminder WE ALREADY PAY FOR WATER through a specific % on fuel and other tax`s, I have no problem paying for water but I wont sit back and allow edna and co rip me off any more, govt squandered millions in setting up IW which should of been used to fix the water system instead of fancy new offices, ultra modern gym`s etc the amount of waste of public money is simply disgraceful and those responsible should be shot….
Irish Water are responsible for the high levels of lead in the pipes at the moment.
One of my family members got water tested after receiving a letter from Irish Water about lead concerns. The lead levels were through the roof after Irish Water cut the lead pipes in broadstone to place new meters. Old lead pipes are safe until you cut them and expose fresh pipes
Listened to IW do interviews on 3 different radio stations today namely news talk RTE and 2cm. Although the spokesmen were different they all had almost identical format and answers to identical questions put to them by DOB lackies. Well done boys for having everything in unison
lead poisoning and chemical poisoning is the price of not paying.good value for money I say. I don’t mind dying of lead poisoning so long as I don’t have to pay 2 euros a week
It’s not about 2 euro a week it’s who and why the majority won’t pay 2 euro a week. Return water services to the local authorities to prevent Alan Kelly’s brother stealing our water. Already pay 600 a year on bottled water to Aldi.
And you have to pay yourself to have the new pipe connected from mains to your stopcock.mains are being put to front of house,on public road,so you have to dig through your house to connect if stopcock is out the back and pay for it.this cannot be right.
This study show we shouldn’t be messing with phosphates, Not to mention pregnant woman,http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3120105/ we should be taking out(Cryptosporidium) not adding in EG orthophosphate , and so on
This study show we shouldn’t be messing with phosphates, Not to mention the effects on pregnant woman long term ,http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3120105/ we should be taking out(Cryptosporidium) not adding in EG orthophosphate. we should be stripping out chemicals in our water
god knows what the effects are in combination with fluoride and even with glyphosate who being found to be ubiquitous
eg everywhere, in our water, in our bodies ,in our food and also in tandem with PCB plastic’s as well.
Orthophosphate has miniscule amounts of a highly addictive compound which attacks and softens the backbone. Slowly but surely it diminishes willpower causing a collapse of the decision making process. Eventually it causes a complete psychological dependence on the source – water – which will become the most sought after, gladly paid for utility…..
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