WOMAN PILFERED €200,000 FROM MACROOM HAULAGE COMPANY, EVEN AS THEY BATTLED RECESSION

MACROOM HAULAGE OWNER RECALLS ‘BETRAYAL OF TRUST’, ESPECIALLY DURING THE RECESSION

A Macroom woman who stole over €200,000 from her employer over a 13 year period has been remanded on bail to allow her be assessed as to her suitability to do community service work after she repaid the stolen sum in full.

Margaret McCarthy Creedon (51) from Sally Park, Millstreet Road, Macroom had previously pleaded guilty to six sample charges from a total of 50 relating to the theft of €205,000 from her employer Macroom Haulage between 10 May 2000 and 9 August 2013.

Det Sgt Derek Mulcahy said that McCarthy Creedon had immediately admitted the thefts when she was arrested and interviewed about them by Det Garda Tom O’Sullivan and she had co-operated fully with gardai and indicated that she would be pleading guilty at an early stage.

He agreed with prosecution barrister, Don McCarthy BL that she had spared the court a complex trial and she had immediately set about repaying the money with some assistance from family and friends as well as from cashing in a pension policies and had now repaid the money in full.

Det Sgt Mulcahy agreed with defence barrister, Donal O’Sullivan BL that McCarthy Creedon, a separated mother of three, would have to live with the shame of her offending for the rest of her days as the case had received considerable publicity locally.

Paddy Murphy, who owns Macroom Haulage, said the thefts by McCarthy Creedon were difficult to comprehend given the fact that they and their families had been close but the effect of her crime went beyond simply the money that she had stolen.

“Margaret Creedon worked for our company for 22 years – from 1992 until 2014. For many years she was my financial manager and dealt with the financial affairs of the company and between, 2000 and 2014, a sum in excess of €200,000 was taken from the company,” he said.

Mr Murphy told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the betrayal of trust from McCarthy Creedon was particularly hard to take as she knew from working at the company the sacrifices that he and others were making to keep the company in business during the recession.

“It is difficult to express the degree of hurt and betrayal we feel ..... “Particularly between the years 2009 and 2014 when a sum of nearly €70,000 was taken when the company was struggling during the recession and all the staff, including myself, took cuts in pay and salary.”

Mr Murphy recalled how McCarthy Creedon had been a personal friend to him and his family and they had attended many of her family occasions including birthdays while she had attended similar occasions for his family including those of two of his sons who work in the company.

He acknowledged that McCarthy Creedon had paid back the money and written a letter of apology but the injury went beyond the money and while they had managed to save the company, they continue to feel a huge emotional impact as a result of her crime.

“We are shaken, we are angry, we are upset, we are cross, we are suffering,” Mr Murphy told Judge Gerard O’Brien in a Victim Impact Statement that he read himself to the court as McCarthy Creedon sat with her head bowed.

Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan BL pointed out that his client had no previous convictions and was unlikely to ever come to garda attention again and he also pointed out she had repaid the money in full and had spared the state the expense of a complex trial by her guilty plea.

He said he didn’t believe it was the type of case that merited a custodial sentence as was often the case with many fraud type crimes and it was open to the court to deal with her either by way or a suspended prison sentence or possibly by a community service order.

Judge O’Brien acknowledged what Mr O’Sullivan said on behalf of his client but said he wanted to have McCarthy Creedon assessed as to her suitability for community service and he remanded her on bail until May 4th to allow such an assessment be carried out.