Woman to be sentenced for using bogus prescriptions to buy sleeping tablets

By Sonya McLean

A woman who took half a pad of prescriptions from a Dublin hospital which she later used to make fake prescriptions for sleeping tablets has been remanded on bail pending sentence.

Kym Dunleavy (50) St Josephs Place, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to multiple charges of using a false instrument, a medical prescription which she knew to be false, on various dates between November 2018 and April 2019. She has 71 previous convictions which were mostly for theft and fraud offences.

Keith Spencer BL, defending, told the court that his client “suffered unimaginable trauma” over the years, including the fact that her mother was murdered by her (Dunleavy’s) brother, two of her brothers were shot dead and her son was killed while he was working with the British Armed Forces.

Garda Joseph Melvin told Fiona Crawford BL, prosecuting, that gardaí were contacted after one particular pharmacy raised concerns that a customer had used a false prescription in an attempt to purchase medication.

Dunleavy was identified as a suspect after gardaí viewed CCTV footage from the pharmacy. They later secured a warrant to search her home where a prescription pad from Beaumont Hospital was found under a mattress.

Gardaí spoke to the head pharmacist in Beaumont Hospital who confirmed that while Dunleavy had previously been a patient there, she had not attended the hospital for a number of years. The pharmacist confirmed that they were forgeries but said the prescription pad was legitimate.

Gda Melvin agreed with Mr Spencer that Dunleavy told gardaí during interview that she had “behaved rather badly” and had taken the pad from Beaumont. She said she had approached her GP because the one sleeping tablet she had previously been prescribed was not enough to deal with her anxiety.

Dunleavy told gardaí that the anxiety was “coming noon and night – horrific visions from my past that were prone to surface at night”.

She said the sleeping tablets assisted her as she would “just sleep and when I wake there are no horrors”.

Dunleavy told gardaí that the doctor increased her prescription to two tablets but it was still not enough and she used the forged prescriptions to get more tablets. 

“I am exceptionally drained from this. I have visions of my mother’s murder – they are frightening,” Dunleavy said before she told gardaí she had put “a brave face” on her addiction for a long time.

“I was not raised to be this person,” Dunleavy told gardaí.

Mr Spencer told the court that Dunleavy’s brother was murdered in 2005 and her mother was murdered by Dunleavy’s brother in 2013. Her sister also died giving birth and Dunleavy had helped to care for that baby.

Counsel said Dunleavy’s son had died while on tour with the British Armed Forces.

Mr Spencer said since this offence Dunleavy has managed to self-detox but has isolated herself from the local community in order to achieve this. She hopes to get back into community once she has got a handle on her addiction.

Mr Spencer said his client had been referred to the psychiatric services but she has not followed up on it.

Judge Orla Crowe said that Dunleavy has a considerable history of offending and a probation report puts her at high risk of re-offending.

She said however, there are “certain positives” in Dunleavy’s life, including that she has no convictions since 2021 and she no longer abuses prescribed medication.

Judge Crowe noted that Dunleavy has not followed through on referrals to psychiatric services nor has she properly engaged with the Probation Service, even though the service has indicated that Dunleavy would benefit from probation supervision.

“The matter lies squarely with Ms Dunleavy. I am not giving her any guarantees,” Judge Crowe said before she told Mr Spencer to impress on his client that she is “considerably at peril”.

“She deserves the chance to put her best foot forward,” the judge said before she remanded Dunleavy on bail to March 31 next for sentence. A report from the Probation Service was ordered for that date.