'Rogue' has sentence over fake Electric Picnic tickets overturned on appeal
Sean Carroll (31) with an address at Tara Hill Crescent, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, pleaded guilty in the District Court to theft contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.
The court heard that on July 26, 2019, Carroll arranged through Facebook to meet a man on Henry Street in Dublin, where the injured party handed over €550 for tickets to the music festival Electric Picnic. These tickets turned out to be fake and the stolen money was never recovered.
Carroll has 28 previous convictions, including those for theft and attempted robbery.
Defence counsel for Carroll, Róisín Burnside BL, today told the District Court Appeals Court that her client has undertaken treatment for drug addiction and is now free of drugs and alcohol.
Judge Jonathan Dunphy noted that "Henry Street seems to be full of people selling Longitude tickets". He asked if the defendant understood how long the injured party would have had to save up for the tickets, only for the money to go to "some rogue".
The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week
Judge Dunphy decided to increase the original sentence from six months to 10 months, but fully suspended it for two years on the condition that Carroll keeps the peace and continues with his treatment.
"If he comes back before me, I'll activate every second of that 10 months," Judge Dunphy said.
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