Garda charged fake police fees to pay for €150k gambling habit

A COMMUNITY garda took money from his late father’s pension fund and charged students for policing to fund his chronic gambling addiction, a court heard yesterday.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court was told John O’Halloran’s betting problem had ‘spiralled out of control’ and the 47-year-old gambled away around €150,000 between 2009 and 2014.

The court heard his habit described as having reached ‘epidemic proportions’ of up to €3,000-a-day.

O’Halloran had raised thousands for charity but pocketed the cash to pay for his gambling.

However, his subsequent refusal to repay a €5,500 loan proved to be his downfall.

The woman he borrowed it from complained to gardaí and this led to his criminal activities unravelling, his arrest in December 2015 and his suspension from work.

Colleagues, who had been oblivious to his criminal activities, had regarded him as a ‘gentleman’ and ‘effective’ at his job.

O’Halloran, of South Douglas Road, Cork, pleaded guilty to 11 sample charges of the total of 200 against him last November.

Since then, his wife has left him, he has lost his job and €80,000 pension and, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin noted, he has been disgraced.

Before adjourning the case to consider whether or not to give him a custodial sentence, he asked: ‘Is there any colder place than that of a disgraced garda?’

Earlier, the judge said: ‘The thing that is troubling me is the fact that as a garda, over a period of time, he used that in a determined and calculated way to dupe people.

‘He was using his status as a garda to get money for policing.’

Defence barrister Ronan Munro spoke of his client’s ‘shame’. He added: ‘His marriage is gone, his profession is gone. His gambling addiction was totally out of control.’

O’Halloran will be sentenced today.