A Killorglin man is standing trial for allegedly stealing almost €20,000 from a 78-year-old farmer using forged cheques.
40-year-old Owen Doherty of 45, An Bhainseach, Killorglin, faces 77 counts of theft and two sample counts of forgery at Tralee Circuit Court this week.
The court was told that the 77 counts relate to 77 separate cheques which Mr Doherty allegedly encashed without authorisation, using the name of farmer Bernard Hanafin.
Mr Doherty originally faced 79 counts of theft and three counts of forgery, but the judge directed the jury to find him not guilty on two theft counts and one forgery count.
The individual cheques presented to the jury range in value from €100 to €1,200, and date from 23 January 2009 to 24 August 2013.
Mr Doherty admits he signed Mr Hanafin’s name on many of the cheques, but claims it was all done with Mr Hanafin’s permission and in his presence.
The court heard that Mr Doherty worked on and off with 78-year-old Killorglin farmer Bernard Hanafin for a few years when he was younger, carrying out light work after school.
Mr Hanafin said he always paid him for his work but always in cash, as Mr Doherty wouldn’t take cheques.
In his initial garda interview, Mr Doherty described Mr Hanafin as a sound man, and like a father to him, and he denied ever encashing a cheque using his name without his permission.
Over the course of about an hour, Mr Hanafin was shown copies of each of the 79 cheques and asked whether he had signed the cheque, whether he had written anything else on the cheque, and whether he authorised it to be cashed.
On 77 of the 79 occasions, he told the court he had nothing to do with any of the cheques, didn’t know the first thing about them, and certainly had not authorised Mr Doherty to encash them using his name.
The cheques are made out to various payees, including Mr Doherty himself and his wife, while some are made out to cash and others to local businesses.
Mr Hanafin told the court under cross examination from defending barrister Richard Liston that he never had any dealings with Mr Doherty’s wife, and repeatedly asked the court how she got her name on his cheques.
Mr Doherty claims Mr Hanafin loaned him and his wife money when he was short before receiving his social welfare payments.
When Mr Liston put it to Mr Hanafin that he was like a grandfather to Mr Doherty’s son and that he looked after him, Mr Hanafin replied, “Next you’ll say I’m his father.”
Mr Hanafin told the court that he only discovered money had been taken from his account when he went to pay contractors in 2014 and the cheques bounced because his account was overdrawn.
He told the court this gave him an enormous fright, and he almost had a heart attack, while he also told the court he had to borrow money from the bank when his account went into the red.
The trial continues this afternoon.
