Cork court: Loss of almost €10k by deception had 'domino effect' on couple

A two-year suspended jail term was imposed on a former solicitor for causing a loss of almost €10,000 by deception to a couple – which had a catastrophic “domino effect” on them.

50-year-old Mark Cronin, formerly of Macroom, County Cork, and now of 23 Halliday Square, Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of making a gain or causing a loss to another by deception, namely that between December 7 2009 and January 31 2012 he did dishonestly by deception induce a person to pay him €9,000 with the intention of making a gain for himself or causing a loss to another, and a similar charge in the same period relating to the sum of €700.

Defence barrister Paula McCarthy said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Mark Cronin has already served a prison sentence for similar offences against others in the same period. He was sentenced to four years in prison with the last two years of that sentence suspended.

Now working as a barista, Mr Cronin gathered €2,000 compensation for the injured party from limited resources, Ms McCarthy said.

Judge Helen Boyle said from the evidence at the sentencing hearing that the injured party’s wife had trusted Mark Cronin when he went out on his own to set up in practice and she decided to give him the business, paying him €9,000 and €700 for stamp duty and land registry fees in respect of a site, but the stamp duty and land registry fee was never paid.

Judge Boyle noted that the consequences of this deception were catastrophic for the family as they lost the site and were subject to penalties and fees in respect of the stamp duty and land registry duty that Mr Cronin did not pay, despite being given the money to do so. The couple lost the site afterwards arising out of their inability to pay the penalties.

“The victim impact statement sets out the catastrophic impact on their family. It was a domino effect. They both (the injured party and his wife) lost their jobs around this time, and lost their family home… It was not a direct effect but it was a domino effect. It was very distressing and they had to enter bankruptcy. I have no doubt this had a serious effect on the course of their life. It was a severe breach of trust,” the judge said.

Regarding Mark Cronin, Judge Boyle said: “For assorted reasons you were unable to function as a solicitor and caused a lot of damage to people… There is some compensation… I think it is the best that you can do in terms of your present circumstances.

“You have had severe medical issues. You suffered – in layman’s terms – a mental breakdown. You have been working and have not come to garda attention since.

“Had this offending come to light with other similar offences for which you served a sentence, it would have been dealt with already. It is appropriate to make the seriousness of this offence with a sentence of two years but because you have already served a sentence for this type of offence I will suspend the sentence. The €2,000 compensation is to be paid to the injured party.”