‘Tragic accident’ solicitor was probed over €1.7m deficit
Man charged with stealing over €100k Drowned David found in marina near his boat after search by family
Court in Letterkenny
A FORMER solicitor has appeared in court charged with stealing more than €100,000 from clients’ bank accounts.
Robert Sweeney appeared at Letterkenny District Court in Co Donegal where he was charged with three different counts of stealing money.
The 47-year-old, of Rosemount Terrace in Letterkenny, did not speak during the hearing.
Sweeney, a married man with grown-up children, was charged with stealing the money from AIB accounts at Eyre Square in Galway in 2012 and 2013.
Garda Marvin Lee gave details of arresting and charging Sweeney at Letterkenny Courthouse and told how the accused made no reply.
WORKING
Sweeney is charged that on November 11, 2012, at AIB he did steal property; €25,000, money being credited to an account in the name of Robert Sweeney, the property of Yvonne Murphy.
He is also charged that on October 11, 2013, at AIB he did steal property; €43,000, money being credited to an account in the name of Robert Sweeney, the property of Manjit Gill.
The accused was also charged that on December 3, 2013, at AIB he did steal property; €35,000, money being credited to an account in the name of Robert Sweeney, the property of Ciaran Byrne.
The accused man’s solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said the DPP had directed that the case should be tried by indictment before a judge and jury at the circuit court.
Mr Gallagher asked for legal aid for his client saying he was not working at present.
Mr Gallagher said the charges were of a technical nature and “there is a copious amount of paperwork which has already been started”.
Judge Eiteain Cunningham agreed to the request for legal aid.
She adjourned the case until March 25 to allow for the service of a book of evidence.
THE body of a solicitor investigated by the Law Society over a €1.7million deficit in his client account was discovered in the water near his boat, an inquest has heard.
David Montgomery, 54, the managing partner in his family’s legal practice, Thomas Montgomery & Son Solicitors in Dun Laoghaire, South Dublin, died as a result of drowning on October 10, 2022.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court, heard how the married father-of-two was reported missing by his family.
His wife Ciara Mcgoldrick told the inquest yesterday she and her brother-in-law, Iain Montgomery, became worried about him when he failed to respond to a number of calls and texts.
They reported him missing to Dun
Laoghaire Garda station that evening. She said they went to the town’s marina where they owned a boat and noticed his car was parked there.
While they were at the marina, she said her husband’s body appeared in the water beside his boat.
Asked by the coroner Clare Keane if she had any concerns about her husband, Ms Mcgoldrick said he had “an issue” with the Law Society which he had never discussed with her.
However, Ms Mcgoldrick said he would have been stressed “by what was going on with the Law Society”.
She told Dr Keane that it was “out of character” for her husband not to respond to phone calls and to not be home by 6.30pm.
Paramedic Andrew O’toole described how emergency services tried for 40 minutes to resuscitate the victim without success after his body
AT DUBLIN DISTRICT CORONER’S COURT
was removed from the water. Garda Daniel Nugent gave evidence there was no sign of anything out of place or any struggle onboard Mr Montgomery’s boat.
Garda Nugent also stated weather conditions at the time were “calm, still and dry”.
The inquest heard gardai were uncertain how Mr Montgomery had entered the water but were satisfied it was a “tragic accident”.
Postmortem results confirmed he had died as a result of drowning while also revealing he had moderate cardiac disease and abrasion above an ear.
A solicitor for Ms Mcgoldrick, Joanelle O’cleirigh, asked the coroner to consider returning a verdict of accidental death as Mr Montgomery had been intending to fix his boat.
However, Dr Keane said she did not have enough evidence to conclude Mr Montgomery’s death was either accidental, intentional or due to misadventure. Returning an open verdict, the coroner said it would have to be “a completely out of the blue event” to make a finding of accidental death. While she was not making any judgement, Dr Keane noted the deceased had been “acting out of character” the day of his death.
Last year, the High Court heard an estimated deficit of over €1.7million had been uncovered during an investigation by the Law Society into the law firm run by Mr Montgomery and his father, William
Montgomery.
Garda Nugent
As a result of the investigation, the Law Society secured a number of court orders freezing assets of the law firm which was based at Anglesea Buildings in Dun Laoghaire.
In a letter to the Law Society written the day after Mr Montgomery’s death, a solicitor said he was instructed by the deceased just a short time earlier that he alone was responsible for the deficit in the firm’s client account.
an
Dad David Montgomery
[Late Mr Montgomery] acting out of character [on day of his death
DR CLARE KEANE