Father and daughter appear in court after €5k goes missing from Cork garda station

A father and daughter who split the proceeds of an envelope containing €5,000 in cash that was misplaced by a member of An Garda Síochána at a Cork garda station have appeared in the district court facing a number of charges in relation to the incident.

Elizabeth Foley, 30 of Templebryan South, Shannonvale, Clonakilty, Co Cork and her father Jeremiah Foley, 65 of the same address both appeared before Judge Joanne Carroll at Clonakilty District Court. Elizabeth Foley pleaded guilty to one charge of theft and one charge of simple possession while Jeremiah Foley pleaded not guilty to a single charge of money laundering.

Giving evidence, Garda Jonathan O’Donovan told the court that he was due to start his shift at Clonakilty Garda Station on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at 2pm. Before arriving for work he had withdrawn €5,000 in cash that he was going to use to pay a building contractor for work that had been carried out. He had placed the cash in a white envelope and brought it to work with him as he had planned to meet the contractor later in the day.

Garda O’Donovan said that the builder was unable to meet him that day and he left the money in his office overnight for safekeeping. The next day he returned to work and had arranged to meet the tradesman later. When he checked his jacket he discovered that the money was not there and despite an exhaustive search the money could not be found.

Court presenter Inspector Roisin O’Dea said that Elizabeth Foley was identified on CCTV arriving at the garda station on April 28 to sign on as part of her bail conditions. The court heard that she is seen on CCTV in the car park area putting a white envelope in her pocket shortly after Garda O’Donovan had entered the building. Soon afterwards Ms Foley is seen leaving with her father Jeremiah in his black Skoda Octavia Car.

The court was told that a warrant was obtained to search the Foley’s residence on April 30 during which two receipts for cash lodgements were found in the door of Mr Foley’s car as well as €20 worth of cannabis recovered from Elizabeth Foley’s bedroom. The court was told that a receipt for a new refrigerator costing €239 and purchased at Bandon Coop on April 30 was also recovered.

Detective Garda Peter Nolan told the court that CCTV from Bank of Ireland and AIB in Clonakilty showing Jeremiah and Elizabeth Foley respectively making lodgements which corresponded with bank records showing them both lodging €1,850 in cash on the morning of Monday, April 29 2024. Jeremiah Foley denied that the deposit was made with money stolen by his daughter and told the court it was the proceeds of the sale of a van.

Elizabeth Foley admitted she had taken the money and also admitted possession of cannabis for her own use. The court heard that the Foleys made arrangements to repay the money taken and it was fully repaid in weekly instalments with the last payment made on New Years Eve, 2024. Defence counsel Patrick Horgan BL said the case against Jeremiah Foley was entirely circumstantial and there was no forensic evidence to prove he had knowingly lodged stolen money to his account.

Judge Joanne Carroll said: “If every case was investigated with the same voracity as this one there would be very little crime in West Cork.” 

The court heard that Jeremiah Foley had seven previous convictions and the judge said that she had no doubt that he knew the money was the proceeds of crime and she applied the Probation Act in his case. In the case of Elizabeth Foley the judge adjourned the matter until September 16, 2025 for the completion of a probation report and finalisation.

• This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.