A disgraced former district court judge is facing being struck off for a second time following a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on yesterday.
In 2012, Heather Perrin was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for deception after enducing a client to incorporate her own children as beneficiaries in his will. She resigned the bench following her conviction and has since been released from prison.
Yesterday Perrin was found guilty of two counts of professional misconduct regarding that offence and another criminal conviction from 2012 relating to false accounting.
In a separate case, she was found guilty of two other professional misconduct offences having failed to adequately account for funds belonging to former client Gerard O’Callaghan (57) and of failing to provide the applicant with supporting documents relating to supposed cash payments.
Perrin did not attend the Tribunal hearing but was represented by solicitor Sean Sexton who told chairman Philip Joyce she would not contest the misconduct allegations regarding her criminal convictions.
Joan O'Neill, solicitor for the Law Society, successfully requested Perrin be struck off for a second time. Multiple strike offs are generally applied to more serious offences with all cases decided upon by the President of the High Court.
In October last year, Perrin was found guilty of a separate 15 counts of professional misconduct. She had been struck off previously for a breach of accounting regulations.
At today’s hearing, Mr O’Callaghan was seeking restitution of just over €17,700 for cash payments he maintains he never received from Perrin who had controlled his finances since 1994.
Mr O’Callaghan, who is dyslexic and cannot read or write, had become alarmed when Perrin told him his money – an initial amount of €90,250 controlled by her and resulting from an injury claim – had run out.
He denied that several signatures on receipts regarding various payments were his and said he was never given cash despite such payments being recorded. The Tribunal also heard Mr O’Callaghan was made to sign blank sheets of paper on his visits to her office.
His brother Austin O’Callaghan gave evidence that he visited Perrin’s office in the late 1990s as his brother was too “terrified” to go alone.
“She told him his money was all gone,” he said. “She was giving out like hell. When I asked why he never got any receipts or anything she wouldn’t give me an answer.”
Perrin was ordered to pay €5,000 to the Law Society which may be passed on to Mr O’Callaghan. Costs were also ordered.
Mr Sexton told the Tribunal his client had paid the price of her actions through her convictions and the related media coverage. “Any status that she may have had in the community has been taken from her,” he said.
