Former hurling All-Star DJ Carey is in jail.
On the strength of the evidence about how he stung so many people for so much money by pretending he had cancer, he is in the right place.
Friday’s courtroom atmosphere changed about halfway through this jaw-dropping account of DJ Carey’s thriving career as a swindler.
The list of people he duped into giving him money was a long one – unlike the story he concocted to loosen their wallets.
RM Block
It was simple: a nationally revered sporting great is seriously ill with cancer and attending a hospital in America for treatment. It’s expensive and he is in a bit of a financial bind for one reason or another and needs a short-term dig out to continue this life-giving care.
Of course, people wanted to help DJ.
And he cynically manipulated them and took their money.
Shameless and never in Seattle.
As prosecution lawyer Dominic McGinn slowly untangled the web of deception spun over nine years by the former All-Star Kilkenny hurler, the extent of his enterprise and sheer brazenness in conducting it was breathtaking.
Carey’s ability to embellish his sob story with touching little details to extract the maximum return from his good-hearted benefactors was striking. He conned 22 people with his squalid fabrication.
In the packed courtroom, a few observers began to smile as Judge Martin Nolan heard yet another version of how he packaged up his lies to persuade yet another decent person to assist him.
Such audaciousness. Such inventiveness. And the neck. The absolute brass neck of him. That lawyer might as well have been reading from the storyline for a fast-paced crime drama.
The place was agog (Apart from Carey, who had already pleaded guilty to numerous counts of deception and was waiting to be sentenced. He sat in the dock, motionless and emotionless. Was he even listening?).
But then, as senior counsel McGinn worked through the list of his victims, he came to March 2022 and the couple Margaret and Ger Kirwan. DJ had got friendly with Ger, who told him Margaret was suffering from cancer.
The former hurler didn’t miss a trick.
Well, said he, there and then on the spot, didn’t he have that exact same cancer?
Not long afterwards, heartless and callous Carey followed up with a request for four grand.
And that was the moment in court number five when the atmosphere changed.
This fallen hero, coldly exploiting a woman’s cancer diagnosis by pretending he shared that same pain so he could extract a few bob from her and her husband.
People exchanged glances in the public gallery. Some shook their heads.
How could anyone be so cruel and calculating?
One could almost feel the chill set in, the sudden edge in the air.
During the break for lunch, we met a man who is part of a group of about a dozen retirees from around the country who meet up regularly to attend court cases of interest. He didn’t want to give his name.
“We have a WhatsApp group and we even have a Christmas lunch every year,” he said.
So, with their long experience of big court cases, what about this one?
“It’s mind-boggling.”
It certainly was. And that wasn’t counting the man who was spotted by a court official sitting at the back of the court, surreptitiously videoing the proceedings on his phone. A garda seized his phone and laptop and the judge was informed.
Meanwhile DJ Carey – not yet condemned, although the judge would tell him later that a custodial sentence was “inevitable” – ate a hearty lunch of chicken curry in the second-floor cafeteria.
After the break, the judge dealt quickly with a couple of cases. The defendants briefly took up residence in the dock.
Carey found himself in familiar territory, standing at the end of the square, waiting. But he was soon allowed back to his spot behind the glass. He looked tired, and a little flushed and puffy under the eyes.
There was a discussion about how much money he took from people. It nudged closed to €400,000 territory, even allowing for the small portion of funds he managed to pay back.
The crowd swelled as the end of the hearing, and possible sentencing, approached.
DJ can still draw a crowd.
Albeit for all the wrong reasons this time.
The full detail of Carey’s criminal carry-on was laid bare in that courtroom.
He didn’t care who he tapped up for cash – from a billionaire businessman to an ardent Kilkenny hurling supporter who dug into the pension lump sum he was hoping to share with his children to help out his sporting hero.
Exploiting his sporting reputation to exploit friends, friends of friends and random people he came across during his glittering career who might be a good mark.
A victim-impact statement was read on behalf of Denis O’Brien, who has given millions over the years to deserving causes.
DJ Carey, he said, continually took advantage of their friendship. What he did was “unconscionable”. It was “deceitful, manipulative and cunning”.
Even billionaire O’Brien said he was embarrassed to have been duped by Carey.
It was a sentiment echoed by the very softly spoken Thomas Butler, who gave more than the guts of €15,000 out of his pension lump sum. Then Carey had the temerity to ask him to approach business people on his behalf in effort to get money.
His hurt was almost palpable.
Carey didn’t even look at him when he walked past on his way from the witness box.
There was the bogus credit loan which didn’t cover all the cost of his treatment so he needed extra help.
There were the people who gave DJ a job, only for him to stick them for a few thousand.
And there was the story of Carey’s sporting success in America. He spun a yarn about winning a handball title there, which meant he was “an elite athlete” and would not have to pay for his medical treatment. Unfortunately, he could not cover his other expenses, such as fights, accommodation and the rest.
At times, the tall tales were reminiscent of the notorious old Nigerian prince scam – an individual of high esteem – perhaps of noble rank, or a sporting hero – asks a person they have taken into their confidence for help. This individual is temporarily financially strapped but just a small injection of money will allow them to unlock a huge cash windfall...
Because for DJ, there was one just around the corner. He told people he was in line for a million-euro-plus payout from the Health Service Executive after he received “an excessive dose of radiation” in St James’s Hospital.
Not a word of truth to it.
His defence lawyer, Colman Cody SC, spoke in mitigation of his client while not seeking in any way to minimise the seriousness of his offences. He almost ran out of ways of describing how far this once admired and celebrated person has fallen from grace.
The judge reserved his judgment until Monday and remanded the fallen hero in custody.
It didn’t seemed to register with him at first. Then he spoke hurriedly to one of the three prison officers around him. He looked a little taken aback and then the door opened behind him and they led him away.
DJ Carey walked down many tunnels when he wore the black and amber of Kilkenny.
But never one like this.
As the crowd cleared, the man who drove DJ to court prepared to leave the court. He had been taking notes in the margins of a dog-eared GAA match programme. He rolled it up and stuck it in his pocket.
John Crowley, a potato farmer from Mooncoin, said the programme was from last week’s senior county hurling final.
He knew DJ from when he was a boy and he was a good friend.
John didn’t want to comment on what transpired in court. “Sure lookit, the judge has spoken. It’s not up to me…”
He wouldn’t defend anything DJ has done and he has sympathy for the people he duped.
“But, you see, if you’re a good Christian, a good Catholic, you’ll reach out to those in need and I’ve reached out my hand to him.”
