Cork woman Catherine O'Brien denies deception charges over €20k purchase of French horse
She is accused of deception charges related to a John Blake and the purchase, transport and insurance of a French mare called Lingreville.
It is alleged that she 'dishonestly by deception' induced Mr Blake to pay €20,000 to purchase the horse – which was not purchased; to pay €1,100 insurance for the mare – which was not paid; and €984 to transport the horse from France to Ireland - which was not transported as alleged.
Ms O'Brien, of An Grianan, Ballinroad, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of making gain or causing loss by deception contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.
She is charged that on dates between March 25, 2018, and April 5, 2018, both dates inclusive within the State, Ms O'Brien dishonestly and by deception induced John Blake to transfer €20,000 for the alleged purchase of a French mare called Lingreville.
But the mare was not purchased with the intention of making gain for herself or causing loss for another, it is alleged.
She is also charged that on dates between March 25, 2018, and April 5, 2018, that she dishonestly and by deception induced Mr Blake to transfer €984 for the alleged transport of French mare Lingreville to Ireland, which mare was not transported as alleged.
She is also charged that between March 25, 2019, and March 31, 2019, she dishonestly and by deception induced John Blake to transfer €1,100 for the alleged insurance of a French mare Lingreville which was not insured as alleged.
A jury of seven women and five men were empanelled on Tuesday at Waterford Circuit Court. The trial, in front of his Honour Judge Eugene O'Kelly, is to begin on Wednesday and may run into next week.
Ms O'Brien, aged 47, formerly living in Buttevant, Co Cork, sat in court, watching intently as the jury was empanelled.
She wore a pale pink scarf, a grey jacket and navy trousers. Her long, grey hair was tied back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck and she wore glasses.
Ms O'Brien is represented by defence barrister Simon Donagh, BL, instructed by solicitor Ray Kavanagh. Barrister for the State is Conor O'Doherty, BL.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Irish woman found alive after going missing during pilgrimage to Lourdes
A 75-year-old disabled Irish woman who went missing during a pilgrimage to Lourdes has been found alive by French emergency services. The woman, who had travelled with a group from the Diocese of Derry, disappeared on Sunday evening and was reported missing by pilgrimage organisers on Monday morning. There was considerable concern over the disappearance because the woman uses a walking frame and weather warnings have been issued in that region of France amid a record-breaking heatwave. A major search operation was launched and the woman's walking frame was discovered on the side of the road near the commune of Lugagnan. She was found by firefighters 10 metres below a roadway nearby. French police believe that she crossed the Gave de Pau river, as she was discovered in a steep, inaccessible area on the opposite bank. The woman had sustained a hip injury and was transferred to hospital, where she received treatment for injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening. French police credited a recently-introduced text alert system for the location of the Irish woman, according to media outlet Dépeche. A message regarding her disappearance was circulated by police to shopkeepers, taxi drivers, train operators, and other professionals. A witness came forward shortly afterwards. "We were told that a document belonging to the missing woman was found on the outskirts of Lourdes on a road towards Argeles-Gazost," said a police spokesperson. The search then focused on that area, and police officers on mountain bike patrol spotted her walking frame on the side of the road near Lugagnan. "They then inspected the surrounding area, particularly the banks of the Gave," they added. "She clearly crossed the Gave since she was on the other side, in a steep and difficult-to-access area." The woman was rescued by firefighters and was transported by ambulance to a hospital in Lourdes, according to the French media outlet.
Sunday World
5 hours ago
- Sunday World
Drink driver who crashed head-on into motorist ‘was fleeing toxic relationship'
Pamela Tierney (26) pleaded guilty to drink and dangerous driving A housekeeper was more than two and a half times over the limit when crashing head on into another motorist that left him trapped in his own vehicle and lodged in a wall, a court has heard. Pamela Tierney (26) of Riverside, Corroneray, Kingscourt, Cavan pleaded guilty to drink and dangerous driving at a sitting of Monaghan District Court following a two vehicle crash at Crumlin, Magheracloone , Carrickmacross, Monaghan on June 19, 2024. Tierney's Skoda Octavia, the court heard, crossed a continuous white line along a stretch of the R162 and collided head on with a male motorist who had travelling in the opposite direction towards Kingscourt in Co Cavan. Pamela Tierney was more than two and a half times over the legal limit to drive when she crashed head on into 4x4 pick up truck that left its driver trapped inside his vehicle after it became lodged in a wall. Sgt Lisa McEntee said when gardaí and emergency services attended the scene shortly before 9pm, they found that while Tierney had escaped largely unscathed, the driver of the other vehicle was trapped inside a 212 registered Toyota Hilux. The court was told the severity of the crash caused the 4x4 pick up truck to become 'lodged in a boundary wall'. Emergency services managed to free the man from the wreckage ahead of his later transferral to hospital as a precautionary measure alongside Tierney. Sgt McEntee said both drivers were breathalysed in an exercise the accused failed, something which was confirmed in a subsequent urine sample. Judge Gerry Jones banned Pamela Tierney from driving for two years. That reading, Judge Gerry Jones was told, returned a result of 175ml of alcohol per 100ml of urine. Under current road traffic laws, the legal limit for fully licenced drivers stands at 67 milligrammes of alcohol per 100ml of urine, putting Tierney at more than two and a half times in excess of that figure. Sgt McEntee said it was the State's case the incident came after Tierney crossed a continuous white line which effectively resulted in the head on collision. In defence, solicitor Niall Fox said the only reason she had been on the road that day was as a consequence of the dire personal circumstances she found herself entangled in at the time. Pamela Tierney outside Monaghan Courthouse. 'Unfortunately, on this occasion she was in a very toxic relationship and was fleeing the scene,' he said. 'She felt she had no other option but to leave her house and unfortunately she had drink taken.' Mr Fox said Tierney was acceptive of the mandatory two year ban she was facing into, but qualified that by asking for additional weight to be placed on her early guilty plea and her previously unblemished record. Judge Jones consequently banned Tierney for two years while also fining her €500 in the process.
RTÉ News
5 hours ago
- RTÉ News
US couple risk France trial over stolen shipwreck gold
An 80-year-old US novelist and her husband are among several people facing a possible trial in France over the illegal sale of gold bars plundered from an 18th-century shipwreck, after French prosecutors requested the case go to court. Eleonor "Gay" Courter and her 82-year-old husband Philip have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who stole it decades ago, but have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing. Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading with Asia, sank off the coast of Brittany during a stormy night in the winter of 1746. Its wreck was discovered more than two centuries later, in 1974, lying in 10-15m of water near the island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer. The wreck was looted in 1975 after a gold ingot was discovered during a site survey. Archaeologists in the 1980s discovered fine 18th-century Chinese porcelain, the remains of tea crates, and three Chinese gold bars in and around the shipwreck. But a violent storm in 1985 dispersed the ship's remains, ending official excavations. Years later in 2018, the head of France's underwater archaeology department Michel L'Hour spotted a suspicious sale of five gold ingots on a US auction house website. He told US authorities he believed they hailed from the Prince de Conty, and they seized the treasure, returning it to France in 2022. Investigators identified the seller as a certain Eleonor "Gay" Courter, an author and film producer living in Florida. 40-odd dives for gold Ms Courter said she had been given the precious metal by a couple of French friends, Annette May Pesty, today 78, and her now deceased partner Gerard. Ms Pesty had told the "Antiques Roadshow" television series in 1999 that she discovered the gold while diving off the west African island of Cape Verde. But investigators found this to be unlikely and instead focused on her brother-in-law, now 77-year-old underwater photographer Yves Gladu. A 1983 trial had found five people guilty of embezzlement and receiving stolen goods over the plundering of the Prince de Conty. Mr Gladu was not among them. Held in custody in 2022, he confessed to having retrieved 16 gold bars from the ship during around 40 dives on the site between 1976 and 1999. He said he had sold them all in 2006 to a retired member of the military living in Switzerland. But he denied ever having given any to his American friends the Courters. He had known the author and her husband since the 1980s, and they had joined him on holiday on his catamaran in Greece in 2011, in the Caribbean in 2014 and in French Polynesia in 2015, investigators found. The Courter couple were detained in the UK in 2022, then put under house arrest. French investigators concluded that they had been in possession of at least 23 gold bars in total. They found they had sold 18 ingots for more than $192,000, including some via online sale platform eBay. But the Courters claimed the arrangement had always been for the money to go to Mr Gladu. 'Profoundly nice people' A prosecutor in the western French city of Brest has requested that the Courters, Mr Gladu and Annette May Pesty be tried, according to legal documents. An investigating magistrate still has to decide whether or not to order a trial, but prosecutors said a trial was likely in the autumn of 2026. The US couple's lawyer, Gregory Levy, said they had had no idea what they were getting into. "The Courters accepted because they are profoundly nice people. They didn't see the harm as in the United States, regulations for gold are completely different from those in France," he said, adding the couple had not profited from the sales. Ms Courter has written several fiction and non-fiction books, some nautical-themed, according to her website. One is a thriller set on a cruise ship, while another is her real-life account of being trapped on an ocean liner off the Japanese coast during a 2020 Covid quarantine.
