Donegal woman stole €36k from disabled brother to feed drug habit

Stephen Maguire

A young Donegal woman stole more than €36,000 from her disabled brother's bank account to feed her drug habit.

Amy Harpur appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court on a single charge of theft.

The 27-year-old was charged that she did steal property, to wit €36,027, the property of Andrew Harpur at Ulster Bank, Main Street in Ballybofey.

The alleged thefts took place between June 7th, 2021. and July 10th, 2022.

The court was told that Ms Harpur used her mobile phone to make a total of 178 transactions stealing money from her brother's account.

When caught, there was just €250 left in Mr Harpur's account.

The court heard that the victim, who has both autism and Asperger syndrome, did not realise the money had been stolen from his account.

Detective Garda John O'Sullivan, led by barrister for the state, Ms Fiona Crawford, outlined the details of the thefts.

He told how gardaí received a complaint from Ms Florence McConaghey, the mother of the victim and the accused.

She said she realised that her son's bank account was gone very low and that a number of withdrawals had been made by her daughter, Amy.

Ms Harpur was arrested on September 14th, 2023, and immediately made full admissions to taking the money.

When interviewed by gardaí, Ms Harpur told detectives: "I put my hands up, he didn't know what was happening."

The court was told that Ms Harpur has no previous convictions.

Barrister for Ms Harpur, Mr Ciaran O'Rourke, BL, instructed by PA Dorrian and Company, said the accused woman's mother was in court supporting her and that she did not wish her daughter to receive a custodial sentence.

Explaining the series of thefts, Mr O'Rourke said his client had originally planned to borrow to pay off a drug debt and pay for drugs but she got access to her brother's account and things "spiralled out of control."

Mr O'Rourke asked Detective O'Sullivan if he had engaged with Mr Harpur, with a previous address at Pump Street, Carrigans, since the incident.

The detective replied: "She is a different person now. She was in a bad place then but thankfully she has her life back on track compared to the day we searched her house."

Ms Harpur took to the witness stand and told how she developed a drug habit after becoming involved with a man during what she called a toxic relationship.

She began taking cannabis and cocaine and then developed a large drug debt for which she took money from her brother's account.

The accused said she began taking small amounts of money but that the thefts "spiralled out of control" to a point when she did not know how much money she was stealing.

However, she told the court that she was no longer in that relationship and is now clean from drugs, having started a new relationship.

"I'm not the same person and I have cut off all contact with those people and I have new friends and hobbies and I have made myself a different person," she said.

She added that she was now living in Derry, had a good job and had brought £15,000 (€22,789.39) to court to give back to her brother as part of the money she had stolen from him.

She said that paying back the money to her brother is only the start of trying to rebuild her relationship with him and with her family in general.

Judge John Aylmer asked how long did the accused estimate it would be before she paid the balance of the money she stole from her brother.

She replied that she could repay between €500 and €1,000 each month.

Judge Aylmer said he would adjourn the case for 12 months until October 26th, 2026, saying he could deal with the matter on a non-custodial basis.

"I want to see steady and significant progress in that direction," he said.