Man made ‘ham-fisted’ attempt to get €20k loan with false documents

By Eimear Dodd

A man who made a “ham-fisted” attempt to obtain a €20,000 credit union loan using false documents has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Declan Conolly (42) of Coultry Drive, Santry Avenue, Dublin 9 pleaded guilty to attempting to make a gain by deception.

Detective Garda Niall Connolly outlined to Fiona Pekaar BL, prosecuting, that Conolly made an application for a €20,000 loan to Ballygall Credit Union in May 2021.

The credit union made a complaint to gardai, as there were suspicions about the documents accompanying the loan including a Virgin Media bill, AIB bank statements and four McCabe Pharmacy payslips.

Conolly also submitted a copy of his genuine passport with the application.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that these documents were false, the loan was not granted and there was no financial loss to the credit union.

Conolly has 12 previous convictions and was under the terms of a partly-suspended sentence for robbery at the time of the offence.

Det Gda Connolly agreed with Brian Storan BL, defending, that his client was co-operative with the investigation and has not come to other negative attention since this incident.

It was further accepted that Conolly receives carer’s allowance for caring for his mother, works part-time and plays an active role in the care of his children.

Several testimonials were handed to the court, including from Conolly’s wife and his mother.

Mr Storan told the court his client states in his letter of apology that he understands his actions were dishonest, that he accepts full responsibility and expresses remorse.

He said his client made an “extraordinarily bad decision”.

Counsel said his instructions are that Conolly didn’t have the money for adaptations required to the family house and he committed this offence with that in mind.

Counsel noted this was “ham-fisted and unsuccessful at the first hurdle”.

Mr Storan said if his client had done any research, he would have found that grants were available for the required home improvements, which were later carried out to the house, after a grant was obtained.

Counsel said his client accepts that it is aggravating that he committed this offence while serving a suspended sentence.

Imposing sentence yesterday, Judge Orla Crowe noted while there was no loss to the credit union, there was an attempt to cause a loss which was not successful due to the vigilance of an employee.

The judge said this was a “ham-fisted” attempt in the sense that it was uncovered, but would have required a level of sophistication to put the documents together.

The judge said it was “clearly deliberate”, would have required planning, and that it “can’t inure to his benefit that it did not succeed”.

Judge Crowe said it was aggravating that Conolly was under a partly suspended sentence at the time.

She noted that he has not been in trouble since this incident and that he is contributing pro-socially through his caring roles and part-time work.

Judge Crowe said the court was exceptionally “going to give this man a chance” and imposed an 18-month sentence, suspended for three years on strict conditions.