Suspended sentence for Cork carer who took €4,000 from vulnerable person’s bank

A four-month suspended prison sentence has been imposed on a 34-year-old woman working as a carer who took the bank card of a vulnerable person in her care, using it in multiple ATM withdrawals to a total of over €4,000.

Roisín Keegan, of Mount Brosna, Mayfield, Cork, pleaded guilty to the multiple offences, and Judge Mary Dorgan imposed the suspended jail term.

Judge Dorgan noted that the accused had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to these offences, repaid the injured party in full, and had since undertaken rehabilitation for addiction issues which she had at the time.

The offences were committed on dates between February 18 and April 29, 2024.

Detective Garda John Barry originally charged the defendant with 22 theft offences, arising out of different ATM withdrawals.

Defence solicitor Eddie Burke told the court that the defendant had shown empathy for the victim of these offences, writing a letter of apology.

Keegan accepted that she had abused her position in caring for a vulnerable person and was ashamed of what she did and deeply sorry for doing it. 

She said that she enjoyed the work that she did and was sorry that through her own actions she had lost the position.

Mr Burke said the probation service had found that, in their view, the defendant was at low risk of ever re-offending.