Letterkenny Courthouse.
A YOUNG Castlefin student who stole over 4,000 from a veterinary practice in Letterkenny has had his sentence adjourned for a probation officers report.
Before Letterkenny District Court was Conor Byrne, who pleaded guilty to 77 charges of theft on dates between May 7, 2009 and December 1 2010 from Roarty’s Animal Hospital, Lurgybrack, Letterkenny.
The court heard Byrne was now a student at Sheffield University and at the age of 19 suffered a brain tumour.
Outlining the facts of the case, Garda Greg Regan told Judge Paul Kelly he had been contacted by Mr Gerard Roarty, proprietor of the Animal Hospital, who alleged a member of staff had been stealing money from the tills.
Garda Regan said on further investigation he found Byrne had been ‘editing transactions’. While the cash till would have balanced at the end of the day, Mr Roarty found his profit margins had been dropping.
When he was confronted by Gardai last December the defendant admitted the 77 charges and said he ‘did it and was really sorry’. He said after getting away with it once the defendant’s motivation was greed.
Mr Pat Fahy, Solicitor, told the court his client was a Radiotherapy student in Sheffield.
He said his client had suffered a brain tumour at the age of 19 and had never been in trouble before. He was now doing a radiotherapy course specialising in oncology.
Mr Fahy asked Judge Kelly to consider dealing with the case without imposing a conviction as this would damage his client’s future career prospects. “That’s a difficult proposition,” commented Judge Kelly.
Mr Fahy handed in a cheque of over €4,000 for restitution to Mr Roarty. Judge Kelly remanded Byrne on his own bond of €500 for one month for the Probation Report.
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