This article is from page 14 of the 2009-12-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
A 40-YEAR-OLD woman who had been accused of stealing cash by making several ATM withdrawals has had a string of charges against aes ae UES ea b Ester ms
The woman had denied 10 charges brought as part of a Garda investi- gation which was launched after a family reported that money had been taken from an account over a three- week period last summer.
Initially 10 charges were brought and three of those were struck out in court last Wednesday. After hearing submissions from the defendant’s
solicitor, Judge Joseph Mangan ad- journed ruling and on Friday he dis- missed all charges.
Of the seven charges on which the judge made his decision on Friday, the woman had been accused of making withdrawals – ranging between €50 and €300 – totaling €1,450 from an ATM machine in east Clare.
A 16-year-old girl told Ennis Dis- trict Court that she went to the bank on September 20, 2008 to withdraw money from her account. However, she was dismayed to discover that there was no money in the account. “There should have been over €2,000 in it,’ she said. She said she did not
give anyone permission to withdraw money from the account she held jointly with her mother. She said her mother kept the ATM card either in her purse or in a press at their home. The girl’s mother told Judge Mangan that she did not give the ATM card to anyone and did not give anyone per- mission to use the card. She told the court that she has known the defend- ant for many years.
Under cross-examination from defence solicitor Tara Godfrey, the woman denied that she had ever bor- rowed more than €2,000 from the defendant. “No I didn’t and I never would,” she said.
“You supplied her with the ATM card for repayment of that loan,” said Ms Godfrey. The witness denied Wek
The defendant told the court that she had been friendly with the other woman for many years.
She said she had been involved in an accident a number of years ago, for which she received several thou- sand euro in compensation. From this, she said she loaned €2,200 to the woman (who made the com- ete ee
She said the other woman gave her access to the bank account, which contained €2,300. She said that an
ATM card, PIN number and note was furnished to her at her home ad- dress.
She told the court that she used the ATM card with the woman’s author- ity. She said that she wasn’t happy making the withdrawals, but did it because “it was money that was owed to me’”’.
She said that she was owed €2,200, but “I took out €2,300, which was a mistake on my part”.
Ms Godfrey submitted that the charges should be struck out. “In ef- fect, there isn’t one summons where evidence has been adduced,’ she Said.