An accountant's office manager who wrote her own name on blank cheques worth almost £17,000 intended for the Revenue Commissioners has had her sentence adjourned.
Sharon Fagan (24), St Michan's Flats, Dublin, pleaded guilty to seven sample counts out of 10 that she deposited into her Bank of Ireland account cheques drawn on the Allied Irish Banks account of a client of the accountancy firm she worked for.
Judge Frank O'Donnell said it was a difficult case to deal with as Fagan was a first-time offender who was before the court having committed an extremely serious offence. "It's the breach of trust that gives the seriousness of the crime a sheen that might not otherwise have been there", Judge O'Donnell said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
He adjourned sentence until November 12th, during which time Fagan is to continue paying €500 a month to the insurance company as compensation.
Garda Firnnan Lynch said Fagan committed the offences between September 1st, 2000, and July 9th, 2001.
The amounts on the cheques she deposited in her account varied from £190 to £3,280.
Garda Lynch said she had defrauded a total of £16,692 but only managed to deposit £13,412 in her account because she was discovered attempting to lodge a cheque for £3,280.
She had advised the client she defrauded that the best way to pay the Revenue Commissioners was to give her blank cheques which she would deposit in the necessary account as required.
The victim had since been compensated in full by the accountancy firm Fagan had worked for, and the company's insurers had paid out the loss to the company.