Midwife hid €109,000 cash during garda op

SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR MOTHER OF FIVE WHO MOVED MONEY KNOWING IT TO BE THE PROCEEDS OF CRIME

A 40-YEAR-OLD Wexford midwife who pleaded guilty to moving more than €109,000 knowing it to be the proceeds of crime has been given a 12-month suspended sentence.

Before Wexford Circuit Criminal Court was Samantha Sinnott, of Hilltown, Ballymitty, who had at an earlier sitting before Judge Cormac Quinn plead guilty to concealing the location of cash totalling €109,890, knowing that it was the proceeds of criminal conduct, in September 2018, at Foulksmills.

Det Garda Colm Dunne told the court that gardai were involved in an investigation which led to a number of men being arrested in Wexford town. A follow-on search took place at a property in Foulksmills, where an empty safe was found and the defendant was present.

As a result of further questioning, Det Dunne said the defendant informed gardai that she had emptied the contents of the safe into two bags, bringing them to her own house in Hilltown, Ballymitty. When gardai went to the house in Ballymitty, cash totalling €109,890 was located.

Det. Dunne told the court that at the time the defendant had a four-week-old baby. On the following day, along with Det. Garda Michael Troy they went back to the house in Foulksmills, where they interviewed the defendant, following which she was detained and brought to Wexford Garda Station for questioning.

During the course of the interview, Sinnott told gardai she believed the money was her friend’s and she moved the cash to protect him after she heard on the radio that men had been arrested in Wexford town following a garda operation.

Defence counsel Philip Sheahan told the court that Sinnott panicked, and was scared her friend would get into trouble by having such a large quantity of money in the house.

Mr Sheahan said that during the course of the interview she made meaningful admissions where she believed the money was the proceeds of cime. The Probation and Welfare report sets her at a very los risk of re-offending.

The defendant, said Mr. Sheahan, had four children from her previous marriage along with a young child with her partner. She is employed as a community midwife.

Replying to Judge Quinn the investigating garda said the defendant was just involved in the removal of the money.

Mr. Sheahan told the court that the defendant is in fulltime employment at Wexford General Hospital, adding, that she had been afforded counselling as the case had taken its toll over the past 12 months. She accepts entirely that she’s guilty of the offence.

She is 40 years of age and the mother of five children, the eldest of which is 15, while three years ago she suffered the bereavement of her father, who had a very hands-on approach with her children.

In passing sentence, Judge Quinn said that when arrested the defendant made admissions and co-operated with the gardai. She also had said that she suspected the money to have been the proceeds of crime. He said that she had heard on radio of men been arrested in Wexford town which led to her taking this course of action. It has also been said that she was not the target of the investigation.

Judge Quinn said in mitigation there was the early plea of guilty, her work as a midwife, and the fact that she was not involved in criminal activity or money laundering.

He said he would take into account the Probation and Welfare report while Garda Dunne believed she would not appear in court again.

Judge Quinn said that taking all the facts into account he would impose a 12-month prison sentence, which he would suspend in its entirety, on the defendant entering into her own bond of €200 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of 12 months.

On the application of Prosecuting Counsel, Ms Sinead Gleeson, the court granted the forfeiture of the money.