A FORMER pupil of a Limerick fee-paying secondary school, who turned over an estimated €500,000 in bets on his phone arising from his “chronic gambling addiction” escaped a conviction for a money mule offence.
At Killaloe District Court, sitting in Ennis, Judge Alec Gabbett dismissed the case against Marcus Ryan (24), of Lakelands, Cullenagh, Ballina, County Tipperary, after commenting that Mr Ryan has completed a programme dealing with his gambling “very successfully, and that is why I am dismissing the case on its own merits”.
Judge Gabbett said that Mr Ryan has also completed a Restorative Justice Programme and his gambling addiction is no longer an issue.
The judge said that over the past two and a half years before the court, Mr Ryan has completed three probation reports which say that he has a very low risk of re-offending.
Solicitor Daragh Hassett, for the accused, outlined to the court the various actions his client has completed in dealing with his gambling.
Mr Ryan was last before the court concerning the case in March 2024 and Judge Gabbett adjourned the case to this week to monitor Mr Ryan’s progress.
Mr Hassett said “he has been working very hard on his recovery since you saw him last, Judge.”
He said that Mr Ryan wishes to travel with his work as a landscape gardener, commenting that his client still has a blocking app on his phone to stop him gambling.
Mr Hassett previously told the court that the background to his client’s money mule offence was Mr Ryan getting into debt arising from his “severe gambling addiction”.
He said that Mr Ryan “was gambling large sums. He estimates he turned over €500,000 in bets.”
Mr Hassett said that Mr Ryan owed money and “took the bait” when he received an anonymous Snapchat message asking him to allow another individual to use his bank account.
“Mr Ryan went to a very good school and had a great start in life. His parents sent him to Villiers Secondary School in Limerick. He has struggled with ADHD and wouldn’t be unique there,” he told the court.
Mr Hassett said that Mr Ryan found an outlet in sports and played inter-provincial hockey for Munster.
In the case, Mr Ryan had pleaded guilty that on February 23, 2022, at the AIB bank on Royal Parade, Killaloe, he possessed the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely €10,000, in his bank account.
Sergeant John Jenks previously told the court that Mr Ryan provided his bank card and PIN number to an unknown man to allow him transfer money into his account and it was then withdrawn in denominations in Dublin.
Sergeant Jenks said that “the person involved … was observed on CCTV but was highly disguised”.
Judge Gabbett said that “these cases always terrify me – just look at the title of the act, the Money Laundering the Terrorist Financing Act”.
The judge said that a gambling addiction “is the most difficult of all the addictions – it is a hidden one. If you are an alcoholic or a drug addict, inevitably it will show on the outside and eventually you will fall over.”
