A JUDGE yesterday told four street traders convicted of selling counterfeit Nike shoes at a horse fair they were “the last link in a fraudulent chain of manufacturers, shippers, distributors and sellers”.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Donagh McDonagh imposed suspended three-month jail terms and fines ranging from €810 to €3,600 on the four traders.
Margaret O’Brien (32), of Stokers Lawn, Listowel; Paddy O’Brien (26), of Stokers Lawn; Diane Casey (26), of Wood Road, Kilrush; and John O’Brien, of Kevin Barry Villas, Tralee, last week pleaded guilty to having the shoes for sale on November 23rd, 2007.
Sentencing them yesterday, Judge McDonagh said the four “had at best a cavalier attitude to the provenance of the goods and didn’t care where they came from or who sold them the shoes”.
Gardaí seized 300 pairs of counterfeit Nike shoes at a Kilrush horse fair, with 161 shoes seized from the four accused.
Judge McDonagh said yesterday: “They clearly saw this as an opportunity to make money and the honesty or otherwise of their trade mattered little to them.”
He said as it was a commercial crime, he would deal with it in a commercial manner. He imposed fines that corresponded to the money the four would have got from the sale of the fake shoes.
Judge McDonagh said he made his calculations based on the evidence that the accused purchased the shoes for €20 each and intended to sell them at €45.
In the case of Casey, who stood to receive €1,485 from the sale of 33 pairs, Judge McDonagh imposed a fine of €1,485.
He fined John O’Brien €3,600 on the 80 shoes that he had for sale; Margaret O’Brien €1,350 on the 30 shoes she had for sale; and fined Paddy O’Brien €810 on the 18 shoes he had for sale.
Judge McDonagh gave 12 weeks to pay the fines, and said if there was a default he would sentence Casey to three weeks in jail; John O’Brien to seven weeks; Margaret O’Brien to three weeks; and Paddy O’Brien to two weeks.
Imposing the suspended sentences of three months each, Judge McDonagh said: “I hope that the last week has opened your eyes to the prospect of what awaits you if you in any way violate the suspended sentence imposed.”