A WOMAN who appeared in court to be sentenced for stealing tens of thousands of euro from an elderly farmer in Co Cork in 2006 and 2007 collapsed in court yesterday. Kathleen Lewis (55), Blackwater Heights, Youghal, Co Cork, was found guilty on February 6th at Waterford Circuit Court of stealing up to €70,000 from retired farmer George Berry (88).
The charges arise out of an incident in the car park at a Centra store in Killeagh, Co Cork, in March 2006, when a car driven by Mr Berry was reputed to have damaged that belonging to Lewis.
Lewis, a mother of 10, accused Mr Berry, Ballylusky, Ballynoe, Co Cork, of hitting her car.
She told Mr Berry, a single man who had been living alone at the time, that she had two of her grandchildren in the back of her car and that they were thrown into the front of the vehicle, such was the impact.
However, no medical reports have to date substantiated Lewis’s claims.
During the trial, Det Garda Michael O’Donovan, a Garda vehicle inspector based in north Cork, said he was “one hundred per cent happy” that Mr Berry’s vehicle had suffered no front impact.
Lewis would contact Mr Berry by phone at regular intervals, often fortnightly, regarding money. Some weeks after the incident, on April 24th, 2006, Mr Berry gave her a brown envelope with some €10,000 and other sums at other times up to February 2007.
David Humphreys, defending, yesterday applied to Judge Rory MacCabe to have sentencing adjourned in order to allow Lewis to pay back the “entire sum” to Mr Berry.
Mr Humphreys said that Lewis, along with her children, had “made great efforts” to pay back Mr Berry the money, as it would be in Mr Berry’s and “my client’s best interests”. A sum of €18,800 had already been raised in relation to the matter, he said.
Judge Rory MacCabe rose yesterday to allow Mr Humphreys to take instruction from his client.
However, following the brief consultation in the courtroom, Lewis collapsed and fell to the floor. She remained unconscious there but came around after some minutes.
Mr Humphreys asked if there were a doctor in the courtroom and called for medical assistance.
When Judge MacCabe returned, Mr Humphreys told him that an ambulance had been called. His client suffered from a form of diabetes, the court was told.
Noel Whelan, prosecuting, said the Mr Berry was “particularly anxious” to have the matter settled.
Judge MacCabe said: “It seems to me that time is not necessarily on the injured party’s side in this regard. He has liabilities to people, which he would like to discharge, being an honourable man.”
Judge MacCabe yesterday remanded Lewis in custody but granted consent to bail fixed at €5,000.
Sentencing was adjourned to April 22nd for mention. “This is a particularly nasty and unpleasant crime,” Judge MacCabe said.
“Time is not on Mr Berry’s side,” he told Mr Humphreys. “It is in your client’s interests to scour whatever resources are available to her.”