Judge: Prejudice in solicitor’s deception trial

A jury was directed to find a solicitor not guilty of a charge of deceiving a client of €7,500.

At Limerick Circuit Court, Judge Pauline Codd accepted a defence submission that Denis McMahon suffered grave prejudice in the course of the trial as gardaí failed to take a statement from a key witness.

Mr McMahon, aged 58, of Pembroke Rd, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to a charge that when a partner in the Limerick legal firm of McMahon O’Brien Downes, he induced a client, Margaret Duggan, of Ballina, Co Tipperary, by deception to hand over a bank draft of €7,500.