10 months maybe and suspended. Sure we all know you can't put Gardai or ex-Gardai in prison, it's just not fair to them or their poor families.
Ex-garda faces up to 10 years in jail
By Conor Gallagher
Friday, November 04, 2011
A FORMER garda faces up to 10 years in prison for stealing thousands of euro from his colleagues and an 82-year-old woman.
David Foran, aged 29, responded to a burglary at the elderly woman’s home and found she had hidden nearly €2,000 in her bedroom. He later returned to steal the cash. He also collected money from his garda colleagues to organise events which he then used to pay his own debts.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Foran was nearly half a million euro in debt because of a house he had built with his new wife. He has now been dismissed from the gardaí and his marriage has ended.
Judge Yvonne Murphy adjourned that matter until January after hearing the evidence but warned she is "making no promises."
She called it an unsophisticated crime but noted he has now repaid all the stolen money. She ordered a probation and psychiatric report be prepared on Foran and remanded him on continuing bail.
Foran, of Kinsale, Co Cork, formerly stationed at Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the theft of property worth €1,950 from the woman in Phibsboro between October 10 and 17, 2009. He further pleaded guilty to four counts of stealing money collected from his colleagues and one count of using a false instrument at Jury’s Hotel, Limerick, all between October and November 2009.
Detective Inspector Francis Sweeney told Michael Bowman, prosecuting, that Foran became a garda in 2007 and was stationed at Fitzgibbon Street when he responded to a burglary at the home of the woman.
Burglars had broken into the sheltered housing where she lived but left without taking anything. When Foran arrived with a colleague, she showed them the pillow cases where she kept her money. She received a pension from An Post where she worked all her life and kept the money at home as she didn’t trust banks. The woman left for Cork the next day for a week during which time Foran returned. He gained access to the property by telling the management he was continuing his investigation and while there he took the money.
He later claimed to gardaí he returned a second time to replace the money but as he was doing so he got a call from his mother-in-law. She told him a letter had arrived looking for payment for his wedding rings. She said if he didn’t repay it he would lose his wife so he left without replacing the cash.
When she discovered the money was missing, the woman phoned gardaí. The investigating garda passed the case to Foran who said he would "take care of it". However, he never contacted the woman again.
Foran also organised a number of collections for social events for his garda colleagues including a Christmas party in Jury’s Hotel in Limerick. He collected €13,030 but used this to pay his debts instead.
When he had to make part-payment for the hotel, he used a credit card number belonging to a colleague along with a forged letter of authorisation on garda headed note paper.
Foran wept throughout the hearing. In a letter of apology he stated: "I will forever regret disgracing my unit and I’m forever sorry."
Ex-garda faces up to 10 years in jail
By Conor Gallagher
Friday, November 04, 2011
A FORMER garda faces up to 10 years in prison for stealing thousands of euro from his colleagues and an 82-year-old woman.
David Foran, aged 29, responded to a burglary at the elderly woman’s home and found she had hidden nearly €2,000 in her bedroom. He later returned to steal the cash. He also collected money from his garda colleagues to organise events which he then used to pay his own debts.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Foran was nearly half a million euro in debt because of a house he had built with his new wife. He has now been dismissed from the gardaí and his marriage has ended.
Judge Yvonne Murphy adjourned that matter until January after hearing the evidence but warned she is "making no promises."
She called it an unsophisticated crime but noted he has now repaid all the stolen money. She ordered a probation and psychiatric report be prepared on Foran and remanded him on continuing bail.
Foran, of Kinsale, Co Cork, formerly stationed at Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station, Dublin, pleaded guilty to the theft of property worth €1,950 from the woman in Phibsboro between October 10 and 17, 2009. He further pleaded guilty to four counts of stealing money collected from his colleagues and one count of using a false instrument at Jury’s Hotel, Limerick, all between October and November 2009.
Detective Inspector Francis Sweeney told Michael Bowman, prosecuting, that Foran became a garda in 2007 and was stationed at Fitzgibbon Street when he responded to a burglary at the home of the woman.
Burglars had broken into the sheltered housing where she lived but left without taking anything. When Foran arrived with a colleague, she showed them the pillow cases where she kept her money. She received a pension from An Post where she worked all her life and kept the money at home as she didn’t trust banks. The woman left for Cork the next day for a week during which time Foran returned. He gained access to the property by telling the management he was continuing his investigation and while there he took the money.
He later claimed to gardaí he returned a second time to replace the money but as he was doing so he got a call from his mother-in-law. She told him a letter had arrived looking for payment for his wedding rings. She said if he didn’t repay it he would lose his wife so he left without replacing the cash.
When she discovered the money was missing, the woman phoned gardaí. The investigating garda passed the case to Foran who said he would "take care of it". However, he never contacted the woman again.
Foran also organised a number of collections for social events for his garda colleagues including a Christmas party in Jury’s Hotel in Limerick. He collected €13,030 but used this to pay his debts instead.
When he had to make part-payment for the hotel, he used a credit card number belonging to a colleague along with a forged letter of authorisation on garda headed note paper.
Foran wept throughout the hearing. In a letter of apology he stated: "I will forever regret disgracing my unit and I’m forever sorry."
