Rathkeale Brothers Who Coerced Woman (72) Out Of €25K Jailed

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Rathkeale Brothers Who Coerced Woman (72) Out Of €25K Jailed
Rathkeale pair jailed for West Cork decption

Brothers, Patrick (38) and Thomas (39) O’Driscoll, both of Rathekeale, Co Limerick were sentenced to two years each for their parts in forcing a West Cork woman to hand over €25,000 to them. Charged with deception, the brothers had pleaded guilty.

The court was told that on November 20th, 2018, the two men travelled from their Co Limerick homes to West Cork. They stayed overnight in Skibbereen. The next day they met the woman, a stranger to them, in a jewellery shop in the town. While chatting to the woman, Patrick O’Driscoll produced a power tool and machinery brochure. He “charmed” the woman into giving him her phone number, the court heard.

Patrick O’Driscoll then told the woman that he would be in Goleen, a small village on the Mizen Peninsula, where the woman lived, later in the afternoon. Later that day, the woman rang Mr O’Driscoll, telling him that there was no need for him and his brother to call to her house. He told her that he was already on the driveway outside her house.

The woman didn’t know how they had managed to find her house as Goleen is quite a drive from Skibbereen and her house was isolated. Patrick O’Driscoll introduced the woman to his brother Thomas, saying that he was called George.

The brothers then began to “charm” the woman with religious talk and began to pressurise her. Thomas o’Drscoll began fllling the woman’s home with power tools and machinery. patrick O’Drsicill became aggressive and the two brothers insisted that the woman write them 6 cheques for a total of €25,000.

When the woman checked with her bank branch, she was told that cheques totalling €6,500 had alredy been cashed. AIB then cancelled the outstanding cheques.

In her victm impacy statement the victim said that she had been going through a “lot of trauma” at the time of the incident and was not “in a proper frame of mind” to appropraitely deal with the two men pressurising jher in her own home. She said she had been left “frightened and embarrassed” by the whole affair.

The men have already each paid compensation to the woman and have said that they’d like to add their bail bonds of €4000 each to the woman’s compensation.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabhain said that the crime was “a phenomonally serious offence”. The judge coted the fact that the brothers had followed “an elderly and vulnerable woman home to a remote location”.