Denis Harrington (49) of Ballyspillane, Killarney, was before Tralee Circuit Criminal Court where he pleaded guilty to three counts of deception.
Prosecuting Barrister Tom Rice, leading the evidence, told the court that the couple were told their property was defective and they handed over the sum of €93,500 in various payments for works to be carried out on the roof.
Mr Rice said that the couple from Crumlin, John Murphy and Ann Healy, are both pensioners, from Windmill Crescent, and own the property involved. In May 2022, they handed over money to carry out roof repairs to a man they knew as ‘David Anthony’ but was in fact Mr Harrington. He had a van which stated ‘roofing solutions’ and another worker with him.
They provided Mr Harrington with access to their roof and he persuaded them that there was a major problem with the roof that would cost €41,000 and this was handed over.
Mr Harrington subsequently sought further sums of money on various dates for the works which both Mr Murphy and Ms Healy handed over.
“It transpired that rather than being worked on, it was being damaged,” Mr Rice told the court.
After several payments on different dates, Mr Murphy became suspicious and he contacted his solicitor who advised him to go to gardaí and they began an investigation.
CCTV was obtained from next door and from a petrol station where funds were handed over. Gardaí got warrants for the couple’s bank accounts which showed the withdrawals.
The van was registered to Mr Harrington, the court heard, and a distinctive tattoo also helped identity Mr Harrington as the man involved.
Mr Rice told the court that significant damage had also been caused to the house as the ‘roof had been butchered’ and was now unstable and the couple could not live in it. The court heard that, in total, there were at a grand loss of €168,922 including the damage caused. Some money was recovered in insurance for the damage.
The court was told that Mr Harrington made significant admissions and had now pleaded guilty to three charges that he dishonestly and with the intention of making a gain for himself or another by a deception of falsely stating that a property was defective and that he would remedy the same, inducing Anne Healy to hand over €15,000, another sum of €13,500 and another sum of €10,000 on various dates in May 2022.
There was also a plea to criminal damage to the property of Ms Anne Healy and John Murphy.
In victim impact statements read out to the court by a member of An Garda Siochána, Mr Murphy said that Mr Harrington ‘knew how to play us’ and that he felt vulnerable after he realised it was a scam. He said it caused him stress and worry.
“I wish I had never let that man near us,” he said.
Ms Healy said that she had lost trust in people because of what happened.
“I can’t believe this man would do something like this,” she said, adding that she felt ‘stupid and gullible’.
She said she had worked hard all her life and Mr Harrington took her pension and ‘conned her out of her life savings’.
The court was told that Mr Harrington has 30 previous convictions including four for ‘guttering offences’ which describes incidents where he deceived homeowners into believing they needed work. He had received a sentence and further suspended sentences for these offences.
His barrister, Patrick O’Sullivan, said the ‘optics’ don’t look good. Judge Ronan Munro queried where the €90,000 taken went to, to which Mr O’Sullivan replied that he had a good explanation for that. He said his client has significant health problems.
Mr Harrington was also before Tralee Circuit Criminal Court for a separate incident relating to a family feud in Kerry when he was involved in a row that broke out on Christmas Day and he pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder arising from this.
The evidence for this incident was also provided to the court with Garda Nigel Shevlin stating that there was a feud between a group of families in the Ballyspillane area.
This began over a bouncy castle when a child from one side of the family feud was put off it during a Holy Communion in 2018 and it sparked several criminal incidents and court cases.
Garda Shevlin outlined a number of incidents that took place on Christmas morning 2020 in Ballyspillane which Mr Harrington, along with others, were involved in.
One involved a house being attacked by an armed gang and later a car was smashed up. Mr Harrington was not involved in the house attack or the car but was seen armed with a weapon in a brawl in the estate.
A separate house – the parents of the family in the first house attacked who were both pensioners – was also entered by two men with weapons.
Mr Harrington did not enter the house but was present with a weapon outside. This was the house of Theresa and Patrick O’Brien, the court was told, and Theresa O’Brien was assaulted outside the house. This charge of assault was taken into consideration by the court.
“He wasn’t the ring leader but he was involved in an assault on an elderly lady who prepared dinner in her home on Christmas Day,” said Garda Shevlin.
A third house was also attacked and Mr Harrington was present.
Having heard the evidence, Judge Ronan Munro said it was “like an attack on the king” of the family or a ‘tribal’ attack.
Garda Shevlin said the group ‘had lost all sense of reason’ and the court heard it was like ‘mob rule’.
Other defendants have been before the court on charges relating to these specific events.
There have been a number of incident linked to this family feud but Mr Harrington was involved only in this one, his barrister Mr O’Sullivan said. He said it was a ‘retaliation’ to events that occurred on Christmas Eve.
The court was told that a full psychiatric report was warranted and would be needed before sentencing.
The case was adjourned to October 7.