Two brothers have been jailed for deffrauding an elderly widow suffering from cancer out of over €440,000.
Conor Murphy (42), with an address at Castlepark, Ballybane, Galway, was sentenced to five years in prison at Galway Circuit Criminal Court.
He had pleaded guilty to six sample charges of inducing Mary Ellen Walsh (71),with an address in Craughwell, to make 49 cheques payable to him over an 11-month period between December 2006 and October, 2007. The amount came to a total of €367,100.
Jimmy Murphy(46), with an address in Ballydesmond, Co Cork, received a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to extorting €28,500 from the victim on two separate dates in 2007.
Mrs Walsh’s ATM card was also used on numerous occasions, even when she was in hospital and unable to use it. The additional money taken from her account brought the total loss to her to €444,500.
The brothers targeted Mrs Walsh after learning that she had received €3.3 million from the sale of land near Oranmore.
She had given half of the money to her only son who lives in Cork, bought a new home for herself in Craughwell for €335,000 and put the remainder of the money in a deposit and a current bank account.
Conor Murphy convinced Mrs Walsh he owned 35 acres of land in Moycullen and would sell it to her for €150,000, claiming she would make a huge profit in the transaction by selling it on to developers. He did not own any land but he extorted the money along with €9,000 for bogus planning fees.
He found out she had cancer and he told her he was suffering from cancer too to draw her into his confidence. He also discovered she was a deeply religious woman and he brought religious objects and even a faith healer into her house, claiming she could be cured of her cancer. He also claimed he was having visions of her dead brother.
Det Sgt Martin Glynn told the initial court hearing in December that Mrs Walsh believed she had met two angels from heaven. He described her as a trusting person who was very religious but who was also very naive.
“She is in financial ruin and has only her pension to survive on now. She has no other asset except her house,” he said.
Jimmy Murphy had brought Mrs. Walsh to her bank in Galway on two occasions and convinced her to withdraw money to get Conor out on bail. Conor Murphy was not in custody at the time and she was told lies so that she would hand over the money. On one occasion, Jimmy Murphy left Mrs Walsh to make her own way home from the bank after she handed him the money, even though she was recovering from a serious operation.
Imposing the sentences, Judge Raymond Groarke said this was as “meanand miserable” a crime as he had ever come across.
He accepted Jimmy Murphy had been duped by his brother into going along with his younger brother in the scam and had not benefited to the same degree.