THE STATE was cast in the role of the Grinch when it asked a judge in Limerick to return a sum of stolen money to government coffers rather than give it to the St Vincent de Paul charity.
Judge Colin Daly was presiding over hearings in Limerick Circuit Court when State Prosecuting Barrister John O’Sullivan informed him of a High Court ruling.
Mr O’Sullivan outlined how an employee of the postal service had previously pleaded guilty to offences of interfering with the post and stealing.
“Essentially, he was opening letters and packages and stealing the contents, including sums of cash,” Mr O’Sullivan told the court.
Gardaí searched the man’s home as part of their investigation and seized €28,000 in cash, Mr O’Sullivan explained.
After pleading to a number of sample offences, and admitting the cash found was stolen, the worker was handed a suspended sentence at the earlier hearing.
The presiding judge in the Limerick Circuit Court at the time of that hearing made an order that the money – which was being held in court as evidence – should be donated to the St Vincent de Paul charity.
But Mr O’Sullivan told Judge Daly that the State had gone to the High Court for a ruling, and at that point the High Court had quashed the order for the cash to be donated to the charity.
It now fell to the Circuit Court to make an order retuning the money to the State, which Judge Daly did.
