Court told Gallagher’s cutlery was ‘put out of harm’s way’
Sophie Flynn Rogers, who worked at Mr Gallagher’s Peacock Alley restaurant told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday her employer was “extremely down” following his arrest by gardaí in December 2000.
It was the fourth day of the trial of Mr Gallagher, who is accused of stealing three paintings from his restaurant on an unknown date in November 2000, which were the possession of the Fitzwilliam Hotel, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
He is also charged with obtaining £9,000 by false pretences by selling the paintings to a Blackrock auctioneer.
The 32-year-old chef has pleaded not guilty to all four charges.
Ms Flynn Rogers said she had called to Mr Gallagher’s home in Killiney on the evening following his arrest and he appeared very removed and quiet. “He was completely unlike himself,” said Ms Flynn Rogers.
She was so concerned about his welfare she hid all the knives, skewers and cling film in his kitchen. “I feared he would do something if left alone,” she explained.
Ms Flynn Rogers said the chef was also concerned news of his arrest would be reported in the Sunday newspapers. “I’ve been called many things but I am not a thief,” he told her.
She told his barrister, Richard Kean SC, she always understood the paintings belonged to the chef.
Asked to describe her boss, she claimed Mr Gallagher was “a bit like trying to pin mercury down with a fork”. He was often erratic, volatile yet purposeful in his action. But she acknowledged he was experiencing huge financial problems and was taking Prozac for related anxiety and stress.
She agreed he did not have good business acumen. “I always thought he displayed bad judgment.”
However, another of Mr Gallagher’s PAs, Hazel Hurley said his financial problems only began when he moved Peacock Alley from South William St to the Fitzwilliam Hotel in 1998.
She described his relationship with the hotel’s management as “far from good, to put it mildly”.
The trial before a jury of six men and six women continues on Monday.
