Woman sells family home to help repay €98k she stole from GAA club

THE family home of a woman who stole a total of e98,316 from a Co Limerick GAA club when she was its treasurer, has been sold to help pay restitution.

Patricia Carroll, 49, a mother of one, has sold the family home where she lived at Chapel Street, Kilfinane, Limerick Circuit Court heard yesterday.

The two-storey house made e65,000 after all expenses on the sale were paid.

Mark Nicholas, for Carroll, told Judge Carroll Moran the proceeds of the recent house sale will now be offered to the club as restitution.

Ms Carroll, he said, was now living off social welfare payments.

Judge Carroll Moran adjourned the case for two weeks while the offer is being considered by the Blackrock GAA club in Kilfinane.

State prosecutor Michael Collins told a previoussitting of the court that Carroll pleaded guilty to defrauding the club on 39 separate occasions when she took e63,543 from the club’s weekly Lotto fund and a further e34,773 from its bank accounts through a series of forged cheques.

Things began to go wrong for Carroll, however, after the December 2006 AGM at which a man who sanded the local pitch claimed he was owed more than e7,780.

Club officials were mystified as Carroll’s statement of affairs at the AGM showed this had been paid along with all outstanding debts.

Limerick Greyhound Track contacted a committee member saying a cheque from the club for e3,200, due from a fundraising night, had bounced.

The club solicitor advised the committee to call in the gardaí.

Det Garda Tim Hartnett, of Bruff station, said after being arrested in November 2007, Carroll immediately admitted the thefts. Mr Nicholas said the accused came from a very good background and a family rooted in the community.

“She was considered to be elevated to the role of club treasurer and now is reduced to a thief and a robber and that will continue into the future,” he said.