Cork man who stole €7k from employer jailed
A Cork gambler who was active in Gamblers Anonymous stole €6,900 from his employer and drove from Cork Airport to Dublin for a gambling spree where he blew all the money has been jailed for two years.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said of Ian O’Sullivan: “He knows what the problem is. Everyone knows it is a frightful addiction and very hard to stop. But in this case there was a significant breach of trust and almost a recklessness about the consequences. The appropriate sentence is two years.”
The judge said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, “A plea in a case like this is always of benefit as it is difficult to prove. There is no point asking for more compensation (he paid €1,000 back) as he does not have it and you would not know where he would try to get it.
“I will keep the custodial element as limited as possible. My view on persons who get two-year fully suspended sentences for theft when that appears to be wasted is that I can’t really see that it has worked.” The judge then imposed two years imprisonment without any part of it suspended.
Detective Garda Jim Kearney described the background to the crimes committed by Ian O’Sullivan, who is aged around 40, and with an address at Cherry Lawn, Church Road, Blackrock, Cork.
He said the crime was committed between October 10 and 12, 2017 when the defendant was working as a delivery man contracted to Musgrave’s Cash and Carry.
His job was to deliver goods to various shops around Cork, collect cash payment and then hand over the cash he had received.
Instead he drove the van to Cork airport where he abandoned it with the keys in the ignition. He hired a car at the airport and drove to Dublin where he went on a gambling spree and lost all of the €6,900 he had collected in the course of his work.
Peter O’Flynn defence barrister said of O’Sullivan, who pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing €6,900 in October 2017, that he established Gamblers Anonymous in prison which was acknowledged by the Prison Service.
However, he said the gambling caught up on him again and appeared to be entrenched with psychiatric issues.
