By Claire Henry
The former owner of a haulage company has been given a suspended sentence for writing two cheques for green diesel, which failed to clear.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Kenneth Browne (47) of Balbriggan Road, Skerries, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of deception relating to offences which occurred in the Balbriggan area on March 20 and 26, 2019
He has 16 previous convictions, mostly for road traffic offences, but also for theft and fraud offences.
Passing sentence, Judge Jonathan Dunphy said Browne made the dishonest decision to write two cheques for the fuel, which he knew would not clear. He said that after some poor business decisions, Browne found himself in trouble with the bank, which repossessed some of his trucks.
Judge Dunphy said Browne has some relevant previous convictions, which he would take into consideration as an aggravating factor, and he set a headline sentence of two and a half years.
The judge said the mitigation in the case included the early guilty pleas, the admissions, the fact he has not come to any adverse garda attention in the past seven years and that he is now in full-time employment.
The judge also took the contents of a letter of apology from Browne into consideration, along with the contents of a letter written by Browne’s wife.
Judge Dunphy adjusted the sentence to 20 months in prison on each count to run concurrently. He suspended it in full for three years under strict conditions, noting he was of the opinion that a custodial sentence was not warranted.
Garda Conall Harkin told John Griffin BL, prosecuting, that a Roy O’Neill attended Balbriggan Garda Station and made a statement outlining that he had delivered diesel to Browne on two occasions and both cheques that he had been given did not clear when lodged with the bank.
The court heard that Browne contacted Mr O’Neill and informed him that he was looking for a new fuel supplier for his haulage company. Both men agreed on a price of €1800 for 2,500 litres of green diesel.
Browne asked for a 30-day credit but Mr O’Neill refused, outlining that he would need a bank transfer in advance of the delivery. Browne then asked if he could pay for the oil by cheque and Mr O’Neill agreed.
Gda Harkin said that the following day, Mr O’Neill’s company delivered the oil and was given a cheque. Mr O’Neill then lodged the cheque into his bank account and was told it would take a few days to clear. On the same day that the first cheque was lodged, Browne called and ordered a further 5000 litres of diesel, which he said he would also pay for on delivery with a cheque.
Mr O’Neill decided he would deliver the fuel in person, arrived on site, and asked for the cheque before offloading the fuel. While Browne had left to get the cheque, Mr O’Neill decided to leave, stating he could not wait. The court heard that Mr O’Neill had decided he wanted the first cheque to clear before he supplied more fuel to Browne.
A number of days later, Mr O’Neill checked his online banking and it looked like the first cheque had cleared. He then instructed that the 5000 litres of fuel be delivered to Browne. A short time later, both cheques bounced, and this resulted in a number of phone calls between the two men.
The gardai were notified, and an investigation was undertaken. Browne attended for a voluntary interview, made full admissions, and was co-operative with gardai. Mr O’Neill did not wish to make a victim impact statement. Browne made some repayments to Mr O’Neill but stopped payments when Mr O’Neill said he would only give him a receipt when the full amount was repaid.
Gda Harkin agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that Browne attended for a voluntary interview and outlined that he had made very poor business decisions at the time and his company was forced to file for bankruptcy.
The garda agreed with counsel that Browne had come to court with a bank draft for the outstanding amount of money owed to Mr O’Neill.
Mr Bowman said his client was an accomplished sportsman who suffered a career-ending injury, then returned to Ireland, worked in the family business, and later started his own haulage company.
Counsel said Browne wrote a cheque that bounced, and to make it worse, he then wrote a second cheque. Mr Bowman said his client tried to save his company by taking short cuts.
He said Browne is now employed full-time and has been discharged from bankruptcy. A letter of apology from Browne was handed into the court along with a letter from Browne’s wife.
Mr Bowman asked the court to take into account that over the past seven years, there has been no repeat offending, that he has not come to any garda attention and that this is something that his client deeply regrets. He asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence.