An Post €1.75M Fraudster - Criminal or Victim?

Boombastic wrote: »

And the Gardai would miss out on a lot of work and publicity.

and overtime !! ...dont forget the overtime !!

You answered your own question in the title. Fraud = crime.

He hardly spent every cent of the 1.75 million in the bookies. He probably splashed out on something along the way.

Odysseus wrote: »

Do you have to use the term Junkie? Going into rehab is one of the hardest things a person will do, believe me it is not a cushy number.

Going into to treatment to detox or going into rehab they are different are not get out of jail free cards.

Often the judge will make a treatment/rehab order.

This is something a judge will consider, it does not remove blame, as I siad it is only one of the things a judge will consider.

I write a lot of court reports for addicts; believe me they are not get out of jail free cards.

I think the other person is saying that your reports are basically used to get a lighter sentence, used by solicitors/barristers to assist their clients.

I've seen it myself in court a few years back.... barrister stood up and said his client suffers from alcohol addiction and has been an alcoholic for in excess of 20yrs ..... little girl sitting next to the defendant turns to her and says "but mammy, you dont drink" ...only that I was within earshot myself that I'm willing to repeat it (I cant for the life of me remember what case it was but it was in ct3 in the round hall of the four courts - so it was not a circuit criminal court matter)

Solicitors often get clients bumped up or even put onto the waiting list for rehabilitation clinics so they can say that their client is making efforts and is on a waiting list, I know there are a number of people annoyed that some solicitors get their clients fast-tracked on FAS courses (I'm assuming it still happens) ... just because it would look like they are making efforts to change their lives.

Criminals in this country (in my opinion) have every opportunity afforded to them yet the level of recidivist crime is scary !! ...last week there was a 25yr old woman with 215 (or around that) previous convictions, there was a guy yesterday (if my memory is correct) ...32 previous convictions and he only spent a month in prison !!

As regards this guy - he knowingly defrauded and stole from his employer and by-proxy stole from public coffers (An Post are still a government organisation ...right ??) .... gambling is addictive, yes, online gambling is even more addictive as you do not physically see the money disappear...but it does and unless the government do something about it ...it will continue to happen.

I also agree with another previous comment about the internal procedures of An-Post should be investigated .... when that level of money can go missing without an internal audit or investigation....something is fundamentally wrong with the procedures.

I don't think you can take the motives behind the theft into account. He stole €1.75million is the beginning and ending of the story for me.

Corkbah wrote: »

I think the other person is saying that your reports are basically used to get a lighter sentence, used by solicitors/barristers to assist their clients.

I've seen it myself in court a few years back.... barrister stood up and said his client suffers from alcohol addiction and has been an alcoholic for in excess of 20yrs ..... little girl sitting next to the defendant turns to her and says "but mammy, you dont drink" ...only that I was within earshot myself that I'm willing to repeat it (I cant for the life of me remember what case it was but it was in ct3 in the round hall of the four courts - so it was not a circuit criminal court matter)

Solicitors often get clients bumped up or even put onto the waiting list for rehabilitation clinics so they can say that their client is making efforts and is on a waiting list, I know there are a number of people annoyed that some solicitors get their clients fast-tracked on FAS courses (I'm assuming it still happens) ... just because it would look like they are making efforts to change their lives.

Criminals in this country (in my opinion) have every opportunity afforded to them yet the level of recidivist crime is scary !! ...last week there was a 25yr old woman with 215 (or around that) previous convictions, there was a guy yesterday (if my memory is correct) ...32 previous convictions and he only spent a month in prison !!

As regards this guy - he knowingly defrauded and stole from his employer and by-proxy stole from public coffers (An Post are still a government organisation ...right ??) .... gambling is addictive, yes, online gambling is even more addictive as you do not physically see the money disappear...but it does and unless the government do something about it ...it will continue to happen.

I also agree with another previous comment about the internal procedures of An-Post should be investigated .... when that level of money can go missing without an internal audit or investigation....something is fundamentally wrong with the procedures.

Well in that case, if the person was getting treatment the judge should have been asking where are the reports from the treatment providers. In my experience courts are not happy with being told that someone is in treatment, they want written reports detailing that.

I dislike writing courts reports because as far as I'm concerned a persons treament is not for public comsumption.

Now I can't speak for evey treatment unit, but I can't tell you solicitors have not imput in relation to waiting lists for HSE treatment clinics or detox unit. Yes we have one for the whole country.

I disagree about how my reports are used, if the subject gets a lighter sentense it is not because of my report. It is because of the work the person has undertaken to address their situation which is reflected in my report.

I give a report yes, that includes what the person has done, how they have responded to treatment, how they have engaged in treatment. If the do not engage or respond I write that or tell a client that they are better off not getting a report from me.

So a report only reflects any changes or attempts to change that a subject undertakes, that I can objectively stand over. It has never happened to me, but a judge can go what the fcuk is this writing; get him here in front of me to explain this. Hence we are very careful what we write.

Also as some people think we do, we never mention the question of sentensing, that is the judges job, so unless you want to p!ss him off and get a severe sentense for a client, that is left to the judge.

So that mean there is none of this: this subject had a very difficult and traumatic upbringing and should therefore get a suspended jail term.

There should be a few more sacked over this. Nobody do accounts at the end of the year?

Makes you wonder what else is going on at the hands of more astute thieves in their employ.

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Ahhh get lost you fool :rolleyes:

Banned.

Motivator wrote: »

This guy deserves to be sent down for 4 years, he's clearly a very calculating & cunning individual & this whole "I'm the victim" attitude he has is ridiculous. I have no sympathy for this guy. If he wanted help he would have gotten it after a couple of months, instead he spent 4 years lying & cheating his family, friends, colleagues & ultimately the tax payer.

How people can blame Paddy Power is beyond me, its laughable. For all Powers knew this guy was a pro gambler, the amount of money & frequency of bets would suggest so. People are calling on Paddy Power to give back the money are wrong, it's nothing to do with them. If a husband steals money from his wife's handbag, goes to the casino & loses it. Do you think she's entitled to get it back off the casino? No, of course not.

This O'Reilly guy is no victim, he lied, cheated & stole for 4 years & was thankfully caught out. **** him, 4 years? He's getting off lightly.

I don't think he actually has this attitude, this was a question put forward by the OP.

If somebody has a serious addiction the processes involved in this mean that they will now seek help until their denial has been over loaded by reality. This is why most only seek help following a significant crisis; what some call a rock bottom.

Of course he is cunning and calculating pathological gambling is one of the more complex addictions to work with; most clinicians I know would agree with that.

Well first off there is much better value on betfair/betdaq than on Paddy Power, that would be my first indication that he was not a professional.

Paddy power like all the other main bookies treat big losing customers like rock stars, they are called category A customers so their phone calls are immediately answered to make sure they don't miss their bet.

PaddyPower will mouth on about precautions they have in place, like self exclusion and daily deposit limits, but a compulsive gambler will always get around this, I'd be surprised if this guy did not have multiple accounts and multiple credit cards which should have raised some questions.

This guy is still a thief, but Paddypower(all bookies) would go out of business with out thief's, husbands stealing of their wife, children going without school books and uniforms since money has been gambled away.

He's guilty but bookies are given to much free rein in Ireland.