A Churchill mother-of-four, who admitted conning her employer out of over €4,000, had her case put back for a Probation Report, at Dungloe District Court.

Theresa Farrell, (46), Glendowen House, Corderry, Churchill, was charged with submitting dud receipts for laundry from “Duds n Suds” to the Waterfront Hotel, Dungloe with the intent to make monetary gain and causing a loss to the hotel.

The defendant faces 42 identical charges over a period from October 10, 2017 to March 23, 2019 contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice Theft and Fraud Act.

The defendant, who was described in court as an alcoholic, pleaded guilty to five sample charges that came to a total of €270.

Detective Garda John Gallagher told the court that gardai were called in after the management of the Waterfront Hotel had conducted an internal investigation. The court heard the hotel were concerned about the number of receipts that were being submitted for laundry services.

The hotel had a float of €200 in petty cash and the defendant was the accommodations manager. Any extra items that were needed had to have receipts and money was paid out for those receipts, the court heard.

The defendant was falsely submitting the receipts of a laundry called ‘Duds and Suds’ which had no knowledge of the deception, and the defendant admitted writing some of the receipts herself. A total of 43 receipts were received by the hotel who alerted gardai.

The defendant was arrested and questioned by gardai in Milford.

Defence solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher said the matter was assisted by the co-operation of the defendant.

“It would have been difficult to get where we are without her co-operation,” he said.

The defendant was not in a very good place at the time and had an addiction, which she had dealt with over the past 18 months.

This matter came as a shock to her family who ranged in ages from 20-12.

There was a sum of €3,000 in court as compensation for the hotel.

Mr Gallagher said the defendant “had come a long road” in the past few years.

“She fully accepts that she is an alcoholic and her family were supporting her and helping her to pay the compensation.”

The defendant was a 46-year-old mother-of-four, some of whom were at university.  This was deeply embarrassing for the defendant, but even more so for her family and she was deeply remorseful, he said.

The defendant had also lost her employment.

The defendant had completed a residential course in the White Oaks rehabilitation centre and was getting after-care and counselling.

She came to court with a clear record and had no previous convictions.

Judge Paul Kelly said it was a sad situation for the defendant to find herself in and she had misused a position of trust.  This probably started off as a once off and became easy and then went on over a period of time.

The judge noted her co-operation, guilty plea, previous good record and adjourned the case until May 11 for a Probation Report and for the payment of the outstanding amount due of €1,030.