A Killarney father and son have been sentenced for swindling a man out of thousands of euro over a fake Rolex watch.
However, the two were caught out when the watch stopped working.
The victim brought the watch to a jeweller and ignored the swindlers’ advice to “shake it and wait a few days.”
The case was heard before Judge Colin Daly at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
The two men before the court were 37-year-old John O’Regan of Willows Grove, Ballydribbeen, Killarney and his 58-year-old father, Michael O’Regan of Monks Walk, Dennehy’s Boreen, Killarney.
Garda Deirdre O’Mahony told the court that the victim had bought a legitimate Rolex from the men for €5,200 in 2020 having spotted an ad on Done Deal.
In December 2020, the father and son approached the victim and told him they had sourced a superior Rolex for him. They gave him a fake Rolex and took back the real one. The victim also parted with €7,250 in cash. The watch came with fake certificates of authenticity.
When it stopped working the men told him to ‘shake it’ and that it would be ‘fine’ in a few days. Garda O’Mahony said when the victim tried to call the pair they either hung up or didn’t answer.
The men pleaded guilty to one count of inducing the man to buy a fake Rolex when they called to his home in Donoughmore, Co Cork.
After a garda investigation was launched, they paid the man back the money owed to him. The injured party also received the legitimate Rolex he had first bought from the pair.
Both John and Michael O’Regan cooperated fully with gardaí.
Defence barristers apologised on behalf of their clients.
John O’Regan, who's a father of six, has 26 previous convictions and his father, who also has six children, has eight previous convictions.
The court heard that Mr O’Regan senior had played a lesser role in the offence as he did not financially benefit from it.
He also suffers from a serious medical condition.
The men had received a four-year suspended sentence five years ago for getting a pensioner to pay for work which had not been completed.
Judge Daly jailed John O’Regan for two years and imposed a 16-month suspended sentence on Michael O’Regan.
