A man who defrauded his estranged wife of her share from the proceeds of the sale of their house has been jailed for one year by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
Alan Fitzsimons (38), Elmwood, Griffeen Valley, Lucan, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to falsely obtaining €28,394.89, half of which belonged to his ex-wife.
Judge Hogan had earlier adjourned sentence to allow €4,000 compensation to be paid but heard from defence counsel Marjorie Young that her client had €3,000 in court to hand over.
"I am not bargaining," Judge Hogan said and jailed Fitzsimons for 12 months.
"It is your client's responsibility to do what he undertook to do in the first instance. He pleaded guilty a year ago and is still requiring deferred payment."
Det Garda Danny Kelly earlier told prosecuting counsel Pádraig Dwyer that when the Fitzsimons marriage broke down in October 2000, the bank repossessed their house because mortgage payments were not met.
When his ex-wife attempted to buy a house of her own a year later she discovered there had been a surplus of €28,394.89 from the sale of their house and that this amount had been lodged with the couple's solicitor by the bank.
Garda Kelly said that when Fitzsimons's former wife called the solicitor, she also discovered that the solicitor had called her husband to inform him of the surplus and he had arrived with a woman whom he introduced as his wife.
This woman obtained the cheque and signed a receipt for it.
Fitzsimons then lodged the cheque into his own account and failed to inform his ex-wife of the existence of the money.
Ms Young said Fitzsimons had been a gambling addict for the last 10 years, but had since sought treatment for his addiction and found full-time work.
Ms Young said her client had spent the money on a trip to Florida with the couple's two children and on a holiday in Blackpool, as well as on his ailing mother.