Man claimed his dead mother's pension for 16 years, court told
A DUBLIN man accused of fraudulently claiming €158,000 in pension payments for his mother after she died has been sent for trial.
Brian Bobey (61) is alleged to have collected the payments for his mother for 16 years after her death in the late 1990s.
Dublin District Court heard it was alleged that he had been acting as an agent to claim the pension on her behalf while she was alive but continued to do so after she passed away.
Mr Bobey, with an address at Walkinstown Parade, is charged with 34 sample counts of theft from the Department of Social Protection at Errigal Road Post Office, Drimnagh, on dates between 1997 and 2013.
The charges are under Section 4 of the Theft and Fraud Offences Act.
State Solicitor John Ford said the DPP had directed trial on indictment and was consenting to the case being sent forward for trial to the present sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
There was no objection to bail under existing terms.
Defence Solicitor Paul Byrne asked for legal aid to cover both a junior and senior counsel in the Circuit Court.
Mr Ford said the allegation was that the accused withdrew his mother's pension since her death to the sum of €158,000.
Entitled
He said the accused had been entitled to make the withdrawals on his mother's behalf before she died.
Mr Ford believed the application for a second counsel could be deferred until the case was before the Circuit Court.
Mr Byrne added that the quantity alleged was likely to rise to around €180,000.
"The only thing in your favour is quantum," Judge Walsh replied. "There is nothing by way of novelty or complexity that you have put before me that would influence me."
Judge Walsh said the trial judge was best placed to make the decision on a second counsel and that the application should be brought in the Circuit Court.
He then gave Mr Bobey the formal warning that he must provide within 14 days to the prosecution details of any alibi he intended to rely on in the course of his trial.
The judge also ordered copies of the video of the defendant's garda interview to be disclosed to the defence.
The case will be listed before the Circuit Court on a date later this month.
Mr Bobey has not yet indicated how he intends to plead to the charges.