Man jailed for one year for “fairly amateurish fraud” in fake PI claim

By Eimear Dodd

A man has been jailed for one year for a “fairly amateurish fraud” for a personal injury claim after his vehicle bumped into a reversing car.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that gardai were called to the scene of a reported collision on Crumlin Road on June 7, 2019.

Dan Harna (49) told gardai that he was driving an Audi when a Kia car reversed from a driveway and collided with him.

He said his wife and two other friends were in his car.

No injuries were reported to gardai at the scene.

Garda Simon Halpin gave evidence that RSA insurance later made a complaint to gardai in relation to this collision, which they believed had been deliberately induced by Harna.

Harna, of Gardiner Street Upper, Dublin, pleaded guilty on a trial date to a charge of dishonestly inducing RSA insurance to receive a personal injury claim on June 29, 2019.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told that the plea was acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions on a full facts basis.

One independent witness told gardai that traffic had stopped to allow the Kia reverse from the driveway, the court was told.

This witness said he saw the Audi take off and bump into the reversing car which was then stopped.

The court was told that it is disputed that there were four occupants in the Audi at the time.

Witnesses at the scene and the driver of the reversing car told gardai there were only two occupants in the car – Harna and a front seat passenger.

Jane McCudden BL, prosecuting, told the court these witnesses say two others hopped into the back of the Audi following the collision, then claimed to be passengers.

A letter of claim was issued to RSA in September 2019 and the insurer declined to have the case assessed by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB).

Personal injury proceedings were later issued and served on the insurer in July 2022.

No monies have been paid out. Sam Friel BL, defending, said his instructions are that the claim has been formally withdrawn.

Harna was interviewed by gardai in July 2023.

He maintained that the Kia reversed into his vehicle and denied staging the collision by deliberately driving into it.

He said that his wife was the front seat passenger, while two others were in the back of the car.

Harna has nine previous convictions.

Gda Halpin agreed with Mr Friel that Harna’s previous convictions are historic and District Court matters.

Mr Friel said his client is originally from Romania and has been living in Ireland for over 20 years.

His client has some work history, but is not working at the moment as he is caring for family members.

Counsel submitted that his client’s previous convictions are unrelated and there have been no other convictions since this incident.

Mr Friel said his client has family who rely on him for care. A report was handed to the court.

Judge Martin Nolan said it seemed there was a “strong indication that this defendant could have avoided” the collision on the day in question.

He noted it is accepted that there were two people in Harna’s car and the evidence was that two others “jumped into the car”.

“It seems this brought a great level of suspicion on this defendant and his driving.”

The judge noted the mitigation included Harna’s guilty plea and that he has “no great history of offending behaviour”.

Judge Nolan said he could not agree to the defence’s submission not to imprison Harna, saying this was a “serious fraud”.

“Frauds such as this are very difficult to detect. There has to be some deterrence given in this case to other possible fraudulent claims,” he said.

He set a headline sentence of two years, which he reduced to one year having considered the mitigation.

The judge said this was a “fairly amateurish fraud, but he must go to prison for one year”.