Cork teen spared conviction after court hears she was pressured to take part in €1,300 rent deposit scam

The then 17-year-old girl pleaded guilty to theft of €1,300 from a woman between April 14 and May 2, 2017.

Cork teen spared conviction after court hears she was pressured to take part in €1,300 rent deposit scam

A Co Cork Leaving Cert student who was put under duress and pressured to take part in a property rental scam in Dublin has been spared a criminal conviction and a custodial sentence.

The then 17-year-old girl pleaded guilty to theft of €1,300 from a woman between April 14 and May 2, 2017.

In the first rent deposit scam case to come before Dublin Children’s Court, Garda Mark Kelly told Judge Brendan Toale a woman had received a number of emails from a person she had contacted about a property.

The accommodation was located in Dublin 8 and a deposit was required.

The money was transferred to the defendant’s bank account in two instalments.

Now aged 19, she was supported in court by her mother who brought €1,300 to court to be given to the victim of the rent deposit con.

Judge Toale said he was striking the case out after a further €250 charitable donation was handed in to court.

Judge Toale said it was appropriate that the €250 would go to the housing charity Threshold.

Garda Kelly agreed with defence solicitor Norman Walsh the teen, who had no prior convictions, did not gain financially and a third party was involved.

He said there was no evidence to link her directly to the emails and the other suspects were not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence.

She co-operated with gardaí and came to Dublin with a family member to be interviewed.

Garda Kelly agreed she had been gullible at the time of the theft and had been under duress.

Pleading for leniency, Mr Walsh asked the judge to note this was an isolated incident and the young woman had a good future and a supportive family.

Mr Walsh said the student had been led astray and pressured by a youth and his father who was from Nigeria.

She had met the youth in a training course, the court was told.

The teen was gullible and impressionable at the time, the solicitor said in a mitigation plea.

The teen suffered from anxiety and panic attacks and was hospitalised afterwards.

However, she went back to school and planned to go abroad to work after the Leaving Cert to save up money for college, Mr Walsh said. School reports were handed in to the judge.

The defendant, who did not address the court, has not come to Garda attention since.

Judge Toale it was the type of scam particularly played in a housing crisis.

He accepted she was a “small cog” in the scam and added that “these scams don’t work unless there are small cogs to some extent willing to be taken advantage of”.

However, sparing her a conviction and a sentence he noted the teen had no previous convictions and he said the plea of mitigation was very impressive.

He was satisfied she was very unlikely to come before the court again. He sought the extra donation to charity saying that simply offering compensation to the victim was insufficient.

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