A home carer and “psychic medium” has been convicted of deceiving a man out of €10,000 after telling him his late father wanted him to give her the money.
Debbie Paget (56), of Knowth Court, Ballymun, was on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court charged with dishonestly inducing James Byrne to give her €10,000 by deception. She was also charged with dishonestly inducing Maria Byrne to give her €200 by deception. Paget had pleaded not guilty to both offences.
After deliberating for a little over four hours, the jury found her guilty, by a majority, of the first count and returned a not guilty verdict on the second count.
Judge Pauline Codd remanded Paget on continuing bail to July 10th for a sentence hearing. She thanked the jury for its service in what was “a highly unusual case”.
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In his evidence, James Byrne told Oisin Clarke BL, prosecuting, that he and his sister Maria and their mother lived together at Glendhu Road, Cabra. He said they got to know Paget as she was a home carer for a neighbour.
‘Give me €10,000′
On one occasion, he said, Paget invited him to “a reading” and he thought this was a fortune telling and that he would find out about his future. He said that that during the session Paget started talking about his father and then told him: “Your father said you are to give me €10,000.”
He said that he felt pressurised and gave his word to give her the money.
Mr Byrne said that Paget told him that if he did not give her the money “it will be a sin and the devil will get you”. He said that he later gave her €10,000 cash in an envelope after withdrawing it from his bank account.
Asked why he gave her the money, Mr Byrne said: “I believed my father told her to tell me to give her the money, that’s what I believed.”
Complaint
His sister testified that she gave €200 to Paget after the defendant told her during “a reading” that her deceased father had communicated with her and said Ms Byrne should give her €200. The siblings made a complaint first to the woman’s employer and then later to gardaí.
Paget told gardaí she was known as a “psychic medium” which meant that she could “see beyond the veil” and communicate with the dead. She said she had offered this service for 40 years and had “never charged a penny” for it.
She denied ever doing “a reading” for the complainants or ever receiving any money from either of them. She said she never asked either complainant for money and had no idea why either of them would lie.
Under cross-examination from Karl Monahan BL, defending, Mr Byrne accepted that he had a previous conviction for sexual offending but said that had nothing to do with this case.