Carmody has given life to treat illness, court hears

FORMER GP Paschal Carmody is not the conman the prosecution is suggesting but a man who has given his life to the treatment of illnesses of the young and old, his counsel has claimed.

Carmody, aged 62, of Ballcuggeran, Killaloe, Co Clare, denies defrauding relatives of two terminally-ill cancer patients of €16,554 at the East Clinic in Killaloe in 2001-02 concerning the Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) given to the two.

Seven of the nine charges relate to the Conor O’Sullivan, aged 15, from Co Wexford. The remaining two relate to John Sheridan, aged 58, of Kells, Co Kilkenny.

Both patients died in November 2002.

Their relatives claim Carmody promised a cure for their cancers.

Denis Vaughan Buckley, prosecuting, said yesterday Conor O’Sullivan’s mother, Christina recounted a meeting with Carmody on July 9, 2002, where she recalled Carmody telling Conor: “I’ll cure your cancer and if I don’t cure you of cancer, at worst I’ll keep you alive.”

Mr Vaughan Buckley said there is ample evidence for the jury to safely conclude that Carmody is guilty of all the counts.

However, Patrick Marrinan, defending, told the jury that if they were to find Carmody not guilty, “it isn’t in any way a slur on them. It doesn’t in any suggest that they are not telling the truth. All it says that you are not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that what they said is accurate.”

Mr Marrinan said the evidence relating to the counts concerning Conor O’Sullivan “is vague and inconsistent”. He said the prosecution case is that PDT “is a Mickey Mouse treatment that couldn’t possibly work for deep-seated cancers and therefore you should look upon Paschal Carmody as a complete and utter conman and convict him on that basis. This case is not about PDT, it is about is whether if in conjunction with other treatments it led Paschal Carmody to believe that this was a treatment worth pursuing with his patients.

“This isn’t a court of morals and you are not in any sense trying Paschal Carmody for being a bad doctor. You are trying him for being a conman and a criminal. It is as simple as that.”

The trial continues today.