Ex-garda sentenced in insurance fraud conspiracy case

A former Roscommon garda has received a three-year suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his role in an insurance fraud conspiracy arising out of a false traffic accident.

Desmond McGonigle (aged 59) of Knockvicar, Boyle, Co Roscommon, now retired from An Garda Síochána, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud by pretending that an accident occurred in Drumsna, Co Leitrim on February 23, 1996.

Judge Michael White noted McGonigle has served six months imprisonment for a similar crime and told him he had committed a "disgraceful act", by breaching the trust that was put in him as a member of An Garda Síochána.

However, he said he was of the view that if this offence had been taken into consideration at the time he was previously sentenced, in May 2004, that Judge Frank O’Donnell would not have increased the sentence he passed on that occasion.

Judge White imposed a three years prison term on McGonigle for the Drumsna crime but suspended it on condition that he be of good behaviour for a period of three years.

McGonigle and Jacqueline Kinlan (aged 36), from Ballagh, Newtown Forbes, Co Longford were given three years jail terms on May 24, 2004 by Judge O’Donnell, after a jury convicted them of defrauding Guardian PMPA insurance arising out of two other false accident claims.

Their conviction then followed an 11-day trial in which it was revealed that a car used for the second one had the same number plate as a car which had been written-off after the first claim.

The final 30 months of their three-year sentences were suspended after McGonigle offered €9,000 compensation and Kinlan brought €12,000 to court.

Mr Peter Finlay SC (with Mr Sean Gillane BL), defending, told Judge White that McGonigle had been disgraced by his incarceration in prison for those six months in May 2004, "the greatest indignity for a member of the force to serve time behind bars".

Mr Finlay said McGonigle had been a garda for 31 years before he retired. "He gave the State the best years of his life and severed honourably. He did not misuse his office throughout his career."

Detective Inspector Aidan Glacken told prosecuting counsel, Mr George Birmingham SC, that the present case arose out of a claim by a Mr William Ryan to Hibernian Insurance for damage to his Peugeot van and personal injuries after he collided with a Rover 960 in Drumsna on February 23, 1996.

Mr Ryan said he had failed to close the bonnet properly after putting water in his car and that shortly after he left the service station the bonnet flew up, causing him to crash into the Rover.

He said he reported the incident at Carrick-on-Shannon Station to Garda Desmond McGonigle who came to the scene but told him not to officially report the accident.

Det Insp Glacken said Hibernian was suspicious that the claim was not authentic and contacted the garda superintendent in Carrick-on-Shannon.

The superintendent requested a report of the accident from McGonigle who stated he had been flagged down by another motorist in the Drumsna area and confirmed that there had been a collision between the cars.

McGonigle also confirmed that insurance details had been submitted by both drivers. The driver of the other vehicle was contacted by Hibernian but said he knew nothing about the accident.

Further investigations revealed that both vehicles had been involved in car accidents, but the damage from these accidents was not consistent with the collision in February 1996. The Peugeot had been in accident in August 1995, while the Rover had crashed in November 1995.

Det Insp Glacken accepted that McGonigle was not the ringleader of the operation, but said that he gave credibility to his co-conspirators’ story.

Det Insp Glacken agreed with Mr Finlay that McGonigle had not received any money from Hibernian and had an unblemished record before these offences.