A Courts Service employee who hid a drink-driving summons for a taxi driver because she felt sorry for him as he stood to lose his job, has been given an 18-month sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Sorcha O'Meara (30) felt sorry for Derek Behan (47), who was also given an 18-month sentence for perverting the course of justice. Behan took up an offer from a man who cold called him to say he could make the summons "go away" for a fee.
O'Meara, Clonshaugh Close, Clonsilla, Dublin, pleaded guilty to concealing a courts summons addressed to Behan and entering into an agreement to pervert the course of justice by preventing charges being processed correctly between May 27th and July 30th, 2004, at Áras Uí Dhálaigh, Inns Quay, Dublin.
Behan, Moylaragh Views, Balbriggan, Co Dublin pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice by entering an agreement to interfere with summons on dates between December 17th, 2003, and July 30th, 2004.
Judge Katherine Delahunt said Behan and O'Meara "corrupted the system" and that their offences were "an attack on the core of the criminal justice system".
"Since the foundation of the State, both public and civil servants have served the country. When this is attacked people lose their trust in the system."
She sentenced them both to 18 months in prison but suspended the last nine months of the term. She noted that Behan had €1,000, which she accepted was a "gesture of remorse" but she believed the "funds would be better used by his children" and did not accept the cheque into court.
The court heard that Behan was stopped by gardaí in December 2003 who observed him driving in an erratic manner. He was arrested and a number of road traffic offences, including drunk driving, were preferred.
Garda Alan McDevitt applied to the summons office to have summons issued for the District Court in relation to these offences. When the case was called in the District Court in April 2004, it transpired that there was no court record of the summons and the case did not go on.
Gardaí applied for the summons to be reissued for a new court date but again on that date there was no record of the court summons in the court list.
Gardaí coincidentally stopped a man driving under the influence on the Malahide Road in June 2004 and during a search of his car, a set of summons for Behan were found. This was highly unusual and gardaí undertook an investigation. This man has yet to come before the courts.
Det Insp Pat Lordon said they arranged to speak to O'Meara who worked in the Courts Service office in the Four Courts complex. She told gardaí she had been approached by an acquaintance who had told her that a taxi driver friend of his was in danger of losing his job because of a drink-driving summons. She said she felt sorry for the taxi driver, whom she had never met, and entered into an agreement to remove the summons. She denied she had been paid for this.
Behan told gardaí that after he had been caught drink-driving he received a phone call from a man who told him that if he paid €1,250, the summons could "go away". He said he handed over the money in a pub car park and was shown the summons. When they were reissued he contacted the man who undertook to do it again.
Det Insp Lordon agreed with Caroline Biggs, defending Behan, that Behan had since received a two-year driving ban and a fine for the 2003 road traffic offences.
Remy Farrell, defending O'Meara, said her "motivation was borne of empathy with Derek Behan and this is the first time they have sat side by side".
He said O'Meara, a mother of three, was facing "professional oblivion" after being suspended from her job in the Courts Service where she had worked for seven years with an unblemished record. He said she had fully co-operated with the investigation, had no previous convictions and gardaí accepted she was unlikely to come to their attention again.
Ms Biggs said Behan was acting completely out of character in circumstances where he was in fear of losing his job and was under pressure to keep up maintenance payments for his three children after an acrimonious break-up with his wife. He had co-operated fully with gardaí.