Former garda jailed for stealing from colleagues and elderly woman
A former garda has been jailed for 2½ years for stealing thousands of euro from his colleagues and from an 82-year-old woman whose house had been burgled.
David Foran was stationed at Fitzgibbon Street garda station in Dublin and had debts of around €500,000 at the time of the thefts in late 2009.
Mr Foran has already lost his wife, his house, his job and his good name. Today the former garda put his head in his hands as he heard his sentence.
The 30-year-old stole almost €2,000 from an 82-year-old woman under the pretext of investigating a burglary at her home in Phibsboro.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring said it would be difficult to find a meaner crime.
Mr Foran also cheated his colleagues out of nearly €3,500 in a whip around, while collecting for the Christmas party and by claiming he could get tickets to a Liverpool FC game in Anfield.
The judge said his crimes were not about money but about a breach of trust and while she accepted that he was under financial pressure at the time and has since paid back what he took, she found he "misused" his position rather than ask for help.
