From Dubai deals to a Limerick cell: How the law caught up with Catherine O'Brien

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

It's a long way from having business dealings in France and Dubai to the overcrowded Limerick female prison but that's where fraudster Catherine O'Brien finds herself this weekend.
After a trial that heard of connections to the Aga Khan, meetings through dating websites, a gallop across Ireland and Europe's horse racing scene, and allegations of fake names being used, the Buttevant woman is now in custody in Ireland's most overcrowded prison, awaiting sentence for deceiving a man she met on a dating website.
It was alleged that she 'dishonestly by deception' induced the man, John Blake, to pay €20,000 to purchase a horse called Lingreville — which the State alleged was not purchased; to pay €1,100 insurance for the mare — which the State said was not paid; and €984 to transport the horse from France to Ireland — which the State said was not transported.
Ms O'Brien, who now has an address at An Grianan, Ballinroad, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, had pleaded not guilty to the three charges of making gain or causing loss by deception contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.
Catherine O'Brien is in a cell in Limerick awaiting her sentence. Picture: Dan Linehan
Before reaching their guilty verdict within 40 minutes on Wednesday at Waterford circuit court, the jury of five men and seven women heard during the trial how she and Mr Blake first met through dating website Plenty of Fish, after which she convinced him to invest €20,000 in a thoroughbred stallion called Shakeel.
The court heard that Ms O'Brien and business associate John Walsh of Bishopstown Stud in Lismore, Co Waterford, purchased Shakeel from the Aga Khan. Two breeding rights in Shakeel were then sold to Mr Blake at €7,000 each, while he also invested €20,000 in the horse.
It was claimed Ms O'Brien told him he could make huge profits by investing in a brood mare to be covered by Shakeel, and he paid €20,000 for a mare he believed was called Lingreville. This, the court heard, was after he was advised by Ms O'Brien that the purchase would help offset tax implications arising from earnings from Shakeel.
Reams of text messages between the two over 2018 and 2019 were read out during the trial, with references to Ms O'Brien having business dealings in Dubai and France. However, the pair's correspondence ended in September 2019, when Mr Blake learned that the horse he thought he had purchased, Lingreville, had not been brought to Ireland from France.
It was the State's case that the mare was not purchased, insurance was not paid and the money paid for transport of Lingreville was instead used to pay an outstanding bill owed for the collection and transport of horses from one location to another within Ireland.
Deferred meeting
The court heard that while Mr Blake had made several attempts to meet with Ms O'Brien in the months before September 2019, and to see Lingreville and the foal he believed she had produced by Shakeel, a raft of excuses were provided by Ms O'Brien.
These included the death of a friend in Spain, and health issues including broken ribs, a virus contracted from foals, back problems and recurring shingles. Her mother was gravely ill, she told Mr Blake. She also said she herself needed surgery on her nose and also needed dental treatment.
'I've never had so much bad luck and I don't know why,' she told him.
Ironically, Mr Blake had endured much more bad luck, having suffered a stroke. And when he appeared as a prosecution witness at the start of the trial, he had received a stage 4 cancer diagnosis.
Catherine O'Brien (pictured) had named her 'friend and barrister' Michael Egan as the owner of Shakeel, because, she said, 'nobody would take a woman seriously' in the horse industry. Picture: Dan Linehan
The trial heard that in October 2021, after Ms O'Brien had been charged with fraud relating to Mr Blake and the purchase of the mare Lingreville, Mr Blake received payment of €22,000 and signed a settlement for the money with John Walsh and Catherine O'Brien. The document stated it was for a brood mare named Shamalana, who had been incorrectly named as Lingreville, and for breeding rights to the stallion Shakeel.
While there was no record of Shakeel having covered Lingreville, there was a record of him covering a mare called Shamalana.
In messages between Ms O'Brien and Mr Blake, the accused had named her "friend and barrister" Michael Egan as the owner of Shakeel, because, she said, "nobody would take a woman seriously" in the horse industry.
However, in court during cross-examination, Ms O'Brien said the owner was Mr Walsh, a racing entity called Classic Thoroughbreds and a company called Eclipse Penumbra Holdings Ltd.
In answering a question put by prosecuting counsel Conor O'Doherty about where Mr Egan slotted into the set up, she said Mr Egan used Shakeel on some of his own broodmares, and was also involved in the promotion of the stallion.
She also said he was the "frontperson" for Shakeel and stated that she had "no experience in standing a stallion".
Shakeel winners
At another point, Mr O'Doherty questioned if Shakeel had sired any winners, to which Ms O'Brien responded that one, Shakespurr, had placed in a race in Slovakia.
This was not a surprise to the Irish Examiner, which revealed in the summer of 2023 that a horse called Shakespurr, linked to Catherine O'Brien, placed third in a race in Bratislava, earning a lowly €250.
However, this newspaper also revealed that the same horse had placed last in a race at the same track at a separate meeting.
When Mr O'Doherty put it to Ms O'Brien that placing in a Slovakian race would not have the same status as races in Ireland, the UK, or France, Ms O'Brien responded: 'As with any racehorse going out, it doesn't matter if it is the Curragh, or Ballinrobe, or it doesn't matter if it is Slovakia, it is an achievement for any horse to be placed or win in a race.'
At times, the heat was too much to bear in Judge Eugene O'Kelly's court – so much so that on two different days the court had to rise for a short time to give the jurors a break. On one occasion, an eye towards the jury box saw several of them fanning themselves with sheets of paper, leading Mr O'Doherty to highlight concerns about the air conditioning and Judge O'Kelly to raise concerns about whether the issue in the room impacts the administration of justice.
Catherine O'Brien in the witness box
The accused at the centre of all the drama sat to the side of the room for much of the trial, until her turn came to be the witness. Initially, it was anticipated that there would be just one witness for the defence, John Walsh, whose stint in the witness box was tinged with tension and outbursts which at times brought smiles to the jurors's faces.
One bystander to the proceedings muttered on the day of Mr Walsh's evidence that he should have brought popcorn to court.
Soon after Mr Walsh left the witness box, however, word got around that Catherine O'Brien would herself take the stand. No longer was John Walsh the star witness. Now, the spotlight was firmly shining on the woman accused of deceiving John Blake out of money in transactions involving the purchase, transport and insurance of Lingreville.
In the absence of the jury, Ms O'Brien raised concerns through her legal team about the 'sarcastic' tone which she believed Mr O'Doherty was using in his cross-examination of her.
Also discussed in the trial was how scared Ms O'Brien was when her home was targeted by men who had been shouting through her letterbox and rattling her side gate before sending her a WhatsApp video message 'demanding' €45,000, in September 2019.
During the seventh day of the trial, Ms O'Brien said of the incident at her home:
It was a horrible, scary event. My life was threatened. My children's lives were threatened.
She added: 'I was not comfortable in Dungarvan.'
During cross-examination, the court heard that a phone number used by the accused had also been linked to communications with Wetherbys and Five Star Bloodstock in relation to transport by women called Kate Egan and Amy Power respectively.
Mr O'Doherty asked Ms O'Brien who these women were and if Amy Power was a fake name she had used, to which she replied: 'I do not accept that.'
Throughout her period in the witness box, Ms O'Brien had argued she had been acting on the instruction of Mr Walsh, who himself said had 50 or 60 years of experience of working with horses.
He told the court that he had bought Shakeel in a 'three-way partnership' with Ms O'Brien and her uncle, Edmund Hawe. He said that Catherine, who he also referred to as Kate, had acted on his instruction in carrying out the paperwork.
In a statement made to gardaí, Mr Walsh had said he had been dealing with Ms O'Brien 'for the last three, four years', describing their relationship as 'strictly business'.
In the absence of the jury, Catherine O'Brien (pictured) raised concerns through her legal team about the 'sarcastic' tone which she believed Mr O'Doherty was using in his cross-examination of her. Picture: Dan Linehan
When Mr O'Doherty asked why he made such a clarification, Mr Walsh accused the defence counsel of 'defaming my character'.
Ms O'Brien was a calmer presence in the witness box and finished her cross-examination on Wednesday morning. This followed an appearance by her in court on Tuesday in which she hobbled into the courthouse, accompanied by Mr Walsh.
Her counsel applied, in the absence of the jury, for an adjournment of the case for a week and Judge O'Kelly was presented with a medical certificate from SouthDoc in Mallow outlining that Ms O'Brien was suffering from severe neuralgic pain. The judge was told Ms O'Brien was unable to sit. The certificate outlined that she would not be able to attend 'school or work' until July 20.
Mr O'Doherty pointed out that Mr Blake had attended court despite his cancer diagnosis. The case was adjourned for a day, but this was because a member of the jury had suffered a bereavement over the weekend.
Judge O'Kelly said that there was very little evidence left to be given, which could be given while standing, and directed that Ms O'Brien return to court on Wednesday morning.
The trial heard how Catherine O'Brien (pictured) was scared when her home was targeted by men who had been shouting through her letterbox and rattling her side gate before sending her a WhatsApp video message 'demanding' €45,000, in September 2019. Picture: Dan Linehan
On her return on Wednesday morning, she appeared to be recovering and remained seated for much of the proceedings including while finishing off her cross-examination.
She was again accompanied by Mr Walsh, who sat at the back of the courtroom throughout the day, and was present when she was found guilty, her only supporter in the room.
From time to time, people came in to have a peek at the ongoing trial, while one person travelled several hours to attend many days of the proceedings because of interactions he previously had with Ms O'Brien.
As the case proceeded, this reporter spent time after every court day fielding calls and text messages from people across the country glued to the case because of prior dealings they have had with her. Communications came from as far away as Clare, Cavan and Dublin, with one person mentioning that he was feeding information from the happenings in Waterford circuit court to former contacts of Ms O'Brien abroad.
For now, the trail has caught up with Catherine O'Brien, taking her to a cell in Limerick as she awaits her sentence.