Sligo Weekender
Naas Circuit Court
A 41 year old publican with a Sligo address was given a two year suspended sentence for the theft of €32,000 from an insurance company in Naas Circuit Court.
Enda Hannon, Culleens, Co Sligo, a father of two and former bricklayer who holds a pub leasehold, pleaded guilty to the offence.
Det Garda Eugene O’Sullivan told the court that in October 2005 he inspected the premises of a car dismantler where he noticed a black Mercedes CDI 220.
When he later ran a check on the chassis number, he found that the car had been reported stolen in Kilcock, Co Kildare some time previously.
The detective managed to track down the owner, Enda Hannon, and told him that his property had been discovered.
“His response was of amazement, and I became a little suspicious of that,” the detective said.
The detective decided to make further inquiries, and discovered that the eagle Star insurance company had paid out €32,000 after Hannon reported the car stolen.
He then found that the vehicle had been involved in a crash in Co Clare and was writtten off as uneconomical to repair.
Following this, Hannon had purchased the vehicle for €19,500 as salvage, and spent €7500 on repairs.
Eventually, the detective said, Hannon had come to him and made a statement admitting the truth in March 2006. He had paid an individual to dispose of the vehicle in Northern Ireland, but this individual instead sold it to a scrap yard in Kildare, where Det O’Sullivan later noticed it.
Hannon has since paid back the insurance company.
The court heard that Hannon, who is married and has two boys aged nine and 11, had separated from his wife as a consequence of the incident. He was currently living with his brother in Sligo, while his wife and children were living with her mother.
Summing up, Judge Michael O’Shea said what Hannon did was a “dishonest deception.”
“Were it not for the careful investigation by Garda O’Sullivan this matter would never have been brought to a successful conclusion,” he added.
“This is a serious offence, and I don’t accept that this was spontaneous.”
“This was planned with the belief that he would succeed with the deception.
The judge imposed a two year sentence, which he suspended for three years on a bond of €200.