A motor trader who attempted to claim nearly €20,000 in insurance for a Mercedes he did not own is due to be sentenced after admitting the fraudulent scheme.
Donatas Sadauskas, 40, previously of Sallins Pier, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty to making a false report to gardaí about a car theft that never happened. The case relates to an incident in December 2016, when Sadauskas claimed a luxury Mercedes S-Class had been stolen from Victoria Road in Dalkey, Co Dublin.
The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau told the court that Sadauskas had been watching the vehicle parked in the area despite having no ownership of it. When the legitimate owner sold the car to a company in the United Kingdom and it disappeared from the street, Sadauskas went to Dún Laoghaire Garda Station to report it stolen.
During the report, he provided gardaí with documentation including a copy of his driving licence, what he claimed was a purchase order for the vehicle, and a key which he said he had used to lock the car. However, investigators later discovered the key did not work and did not belong to the vehicle in question.
Sadauskas told gardaí he had purchased the Mercedes from a man named Donaldus Sadovskis, but investigators were unable to trace any such person. The name was later described in court as fictitious.
The car had also been registered in the UK three months earlier under the same name, with gardaí suspecting that Sadauskas had arranged the registration as part of the attempted fraud.
After filing the report, Sadauskas also submitted a claim for €19,500 to insurer AXA. The claim was examined by fraud investigator Colm Featherstone, who uncovered inconsistencies that ultimately exposed the scheme.
When the fraud came to light and gardaí began investigating, Sadauskas fled the country in December 2016.
He remained outside Ireland for several years before being arrested at an airport in Belgium in February 2024. He was subsequently extradited back to Ireland to face trial.
Sadauskas later pleaded guilty to making a false report and statement to gardaí at Dún Laoghaire Garda Station on 17 December 2016, falsely claiming that a car he never owned had been stolen.
In a twist revealed during the hearing, the Mercedes at the centre of the case was later destroyed in an unrelated incident. The vehicle was burned out in a car park in Manchester after it had already been sold to the UK company.
When Judge Orla Crowe asked Detective Daniel Treacy why Sadauskas had chosen that particular car for the scheme, the officer responded: “I’m dying to know, judge.”
The court heard that Sadauskas previously worked at a factory in County Kildare before being made redundant and later setting himself up in the motor trade.
His company is registered in the UK, and the court was told it has supplied vehicles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the ongoing war with Russia.
Defence counsel told the court that Sadauskas had taken “a very stupid risk” and attempted “to pull a fast one” that was quickly uncovered. The lawyer said the defendant was now accepting responsibility and “holding his hands up”.
Judge Crowe adjourned the case and said she will deliver the sentence on Thursday.
