Poet falsely claimed she had passengers after crashing car into ditch

Winifred Ward ‘felt threatened’ into taking part in insurance scam

A poet falsely claimed she was carrying three passengers when she crashed her car into a ditch.

Winifred Ward (35), of Citygate Apartments, Connolly Street, Sligo, pleaded guilty to attempting to defraud Axa Insurance by making a gain for herself and a loss for the insurance company.

Garda Declan Divilly told Judge Kenneth Connolly at Sligo Circuit Court that he was called to the scene of a single-vehicle accident at Cloongeeny, outside Tubbercurry, on January 15, 2018.

Gda Divilly said he found Ms Ward uninjured but her black Nissan Primera was stuck in the ditch.

Ward told Gda Divilly she had been carrying three passengers who had walked away from the scene to get help.

Gda Divilly took the names and details of the three other women who were reported by Ward as being in the car when she crashed. The court heard that following the accident, the three personal injuries claims were lodged against Axa Insurance.

Counsel for the DPP, Leo Mulrooney BL, told Judge Connolly that shortly after the claims for compensation were lodged, suspicions as to their authenticity were raised. This was in part due to posts on Facebook by Ward in the days after the accident.

The court heard Ward had a falling out with her friends who she had named as being passengers and posted a number of comments related to such. Axa Insurance appointed an investigator, who approached Ward and asked about the matters which led to the Facebook posts.

Ward spoke freely to the investigator and told them that following the accident she rang her friend, who told her to tell gardaí there were three passengers in the car with her.

An agreement struck between Ward and the three supposed passengers was that they would make a claim for compensation on Ward’s insurance policy.

It was agreed that Ward would receive €2,000 from each claimant.

Ward gave a statement to gardaí and later was arrested and interviewed under caution. The court was told she made full admissions.

Gda Divilly told Judge Connolly that Ward said she felt threatened by the women concerned and that was why she initially agreed to go ahead with the scheme. Gda Divilly said he believed Ward was being truthful when she said she felt threatened by the other parties as there was history of bad blood at the time.

The court heard the scheme was concocted between when the accident happened and the 15 minutes it took Gda Divilly to reach the scene.

Gda Divilly also agreed with defence counsel for Ward that she was placed under pressure by the other parties.

The court heard Ward had 88 previous convictions, including 49 for public order offences, three for assault and the remainder for theft and criminal damage. She also had four convictions for possession of an offensive weapon, the court heard.

The court was told one charge of arson had been taken into consideration during another episode of offending by Ward.

The arson charge related to her setting fire to an €18 jumper in Penneys.

Defence counsel Colm Smyth SC appealed to Judge Connolly to consider the considerable difficulties faced by Ward in her life.

The court heard she suffered from clinical depression and addiction issues with both alcohol and drugs. Almost all of her offending related to times her addiction and mental health difficulties were at their worst and she was trying to cope as best she could.

Judge Connolly acceded to a request by Mr Smyth to delay sentencing until a medical report be furnished to the court.

At a previous court appearance, Ward was described as a highly intelligent person who had a bright future.

The court heard she excelled at writing poetry and in the past had performed at the Hawk’s Well Theatre.

The prosecution is the latest in a series of convictions pursued by Axa Insurance over fraudulent claims.

Following the trial, Axa fraud investigation manager Colm Featherstone said: “Axa welcomes the prosecution of persons for insurance fraud as it seeks to protect our customers.”

In February, a security guard in Galway who took part in a staged car accident that led to five ambulances being called to the scene was spared prison but was fined €5,000.

Aleksander Qatja was one of seven people involved in a staged two-car collision at Baile an Chóiste, Headford Road, Galway, on April 8, 2014.

He was driving an Audi A4 with his then wife in the passenger seat when they were rear-ended by a Citroen Saxo with four people in it.

Both parties claimed not to know each other. However, inquiries by Axa Insurance found Qatja’s wife had paid a €200 deposit to secure the Citroen driver’s insurance policy 12 days before the collision.