By Jessie Magee and Isabel Hayes
A former radio DJ who had €15,000 lodged into her bank account as part of a money-laundering scam has avoided a criminal conviction and jail time.
Judge Martina Baxter today discharged Nikki Hayes from the indictment, after taking into account a number of mitigating factors, including that she was vulnerable at the time of the offence and has since rehabilitated herself from drugs and alcohol.
Hayes (44), whose real name is Eimear Black O’Keeffe, of The Way, Hunter’s Run, Clonee, Dublin 15, previously pleaded guilty to possessing €10,000 as the proceeds of crime in a Permanent TSB bank account within the State on November 5, 2020.
Two further counts of possessing €2,600 and €2,400 as the proceeds of crime in her account on November 6, 2020, were taken into consideration by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Sentencing O’Keeffe today, Judge Baxter noted O’Keeffe had pleaded guilty on the basis of recklessness and it was accepted that she was a vulnerable person who was taken advantage of.
At a hearing last year, the court heard that O’Keeffe was “genuinely vulnerable’ and struggling with her mental health at the time.
The sentencing in her case was delayed last November after she suffered a fall.
It was further delayed last May when the court heard O’Keeffe was receiving residential treatment.
She has now completed this and is drug and alcohol-free, defence counsel Keith Spencer BL, told the court.
O’Keeffe has repaid all the money that was taken from the injured party’s account, the court heard.
The judge said the appropriate sentence would have been 18 months but she ruled that the matter be dealt with by way of Section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act.
This means O’Keeffe will not incur a criminal conviction.
She said it was to O’Keeffe’s credit that she has reduced her risk of re-offending in the last year and is committed to her rehabilitation.
The judge said she was co-operative and helpful in relation to the investigation.
O’Keeffe is no longer employed in her former field and is engaged in further training, the court heard. “Her loss of status is something I’m entitled to have regard to,” the judge said.
Defence counsel said O’Keeffe wished to express her gratitude to all those who helped her and showed generosity and compassion from the industry she was involved with “for a long time”.
The court has previously heard that O’Keeffe has been diagnosed with bipolar and borderline personality disorder, with defence counsel saying she had been “preyed upon” by others operating a sophisticated money-laundering scam.
O’Keeffe’s marriage had broken down, and she had reached “rock bottom,” counsel added.
Kieran Kelly BL, prosecuting, previously said the offence came to light after the injured party in the case got a text message on his phone on the day purporting to be from Permanent TSB.
The message said the man had “paired with a new device” and should click on the enclosed link, so he followed these prompts and was brought to his PTSB bank account.
Three sums of €2,600, €2,400 and €10,000, totalling €15,000, were then withdrawn from the man’s account and went into O’Keeffe’s account, the court heard.
Over the next 24 hours, withdrawals of the money were made from Revolut and through a number of ATM transactions in Liffey Valley.
Garda Neill Gavin said a blonde woman was observed making the ATM transactions in Liffey Valley but that he was not in a position to say if it had been O’Keeffe.
The court heard that the remainder of the money was blocked and returned to the injured party, leaving the bank at an outstanding loss of around €2,000.
O’Keeffe was arrested and interviewed the following March and co-operated fully with gardaí, the court heard.
She told gardaí she had fallen on hard times and that someone had made contact with her and told her there might be a way of making about €2,000 if she allowed her bank account to be used.
Gda Gavin said when O’Keeffe saw the money coming into her account, she became alarmed, but the person who had got her involved pressurised her to continue with the transactions.
She has six previous convictions for minor road traffic offences dating back to 2005.
Mr Spencer said O’Keeffe was in debt to the tune of €53,000 at the time of the offence, owing money to RTÉ and to various institutions in personal loans.
She sold her car and used some of the proceeds to pay off her car loan, the court heard.
Defence counsel said O’Keeffe had struggled with her mental health for many years, had been misdiagnosed and had not been compliant with her medication at the time of the offence.
She agreed with gardaí in an interview that she had been reckless in providing her card details to an erstwhile friend who had told her there was an easy way of making money,
O’Keeffe met a person in Blanchardstown, handed over her details and bank card and was told they would be returned at the end of the day, but she did not get her card back.
She told gardaí that when she saw irregularities in her account, she told her contact that she was going to the guards, but that the other person then threatened to burn down her house.
O’Keeffe told gardaí she was not the person who had withdrawn the sums of money from ATMs in Liffey Valley.
Counsel said O’Keeffe had built up a very successful radio career over 24 or 27 years, starting at the age of 15, under the pseudonym of Nikki Hayes.
She had worked at RTÉ for eight years and also for Spin 103, Classic Hits and East Coast FM, but is no longer employed in radio as a direct consequence of this case, counsel said.“She had a very successful career in radio… and someone who builds themselves up that high often has further to fall,” counsel added.
A probation report previously placed O’Keeffe at high risk of reoffending, but Gda Gavin agreed with defence counsel that she was unlikely to re-offend as her mental health has since stabilised.
The court heard that O’Keeffe did not benefit materially in any way from the offence.
O’Keeffe has written a book called “Crying into the Saucepan” about her struggles with mental health, the court heard.