District Court judge's deception trial opens
A District Court judge has gone on trial accused of deceiving an elderly man into bequeathing half of his estate to her children.
Sixty-year-old Heather Perrin of Lambay Court, Malahide, Dublin, denies the charge.
Opening the case, the prosecutions told the jury that before being called to the bench Heather Perrin was the principal solicitor in a firm with offices Fairview in Dublin.
An old friend Thomas Davis, now in his 80s, instructed her on his will in early 2009 bequeathing his estate to his wife Ada's two nieces.
The court has heard he will give evidence he didn't read the will before signing it because he trusted Heather Perrin.
However, when she became a district court judge and her practice was taken over, the new solicitors, O'Hanrahan Quaney, informed Mr Davis that under the terms of the will Ms Perrin's two children, Adam and Sybil, were to receive half of his estate.
The jury has been told when interviewed by gardaí the judge said she had acted in accordance with her instructions and that the Davis's had said they were unhappy with the way their two nieces had squandered money in the past.
