Jailed for duping Corkman out of €1k for Electric Picnic tickets

FOUR Electric Picnic tickets were advertised by a man on the gumtree website and a Cork man paid €1,000 for them but never got anything for his money.

Aaron Moran, aged 31, of Laurel Lodge, Clare Road, Ennis, Co Clare, pleaded guilty to an offence that he did dishonestly by deception induce a man to purchase four Electric Picnic tickets with the intention of making a gain for himself or another.

Sergeant John Kelleher said the purchaser made contact with the seller of four Electric Picnic tickets advertised on a website called Gumtree.

“On August 16, 2018, the money was transferred by Western Union. The tickets were not forwarded as agreed and the matter was reported to the gardaí.

“The suspect was located and interviewed by gardaí at Ennis on August 16. He admitted to committing this fraud along with a number of others.

“The man who paid for the tickets did not get any of his money back.

“The defendant has 33 similar previous convictions.”

Shane Collins-Daly, defence solicitor, said many of those convictions were imposed at Ennis District Court last week for similar offences of deception.

Mr Collins-Daly said the probation report recommended him being put on a probation bond for 12 months and that the judge in Ennis agreed to do this. He said the defendant was a vulnerable young man.

The solicitor agreed that ordinarily, it is the type of offence which would merit a custodial sentence but asked for leniency in the particular circumstances. He said the accused would pay back the €1,000 from his weekly social welfare payment if given time.

In Cork District Court today, Judge Olann Kelleher said he did not agree with the probation report recommendation and jailed the accused for five months.

The judge said the deception of people trying to buy tickets online was a breach of trust.