The phone used by a caller purporting to be an elderly widow seeking to transfer €40,000 from deposit accounts to a current account was registered to a public health nurse who denies stealing over €11,000 from the pensioner, a court has heard.
Det Garda Denis Ryan told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the phone used to contact Bank of Ireland’s online 365 banking section to transfer three sums of €15,000, €20,000 and €5,000 on dates in February, April and June 2016 was traced by gardaí and it was registered to Deirdre Kenneally.
Ms Kenneally (47) from Leitrim, Kilworth, Co Cork has denied a total of 62 charges alleging that she stole money, totalling more than €11,000 from Alice Twomey of Kilcor, Castlelyons, and that she used a computer or caused a computer to be used to transfer money between accounts belonging to Ms Twomey.
On Tuesday, Det Garda Ryan read transcripts of three calls made on February 3rd 2016, April 8th 2016 and June 29th 2016 to Bank of Ireland 365 in Dublin by a woman purporting to be Ms Twomey in which she inquired about transferring monies from two deposit accounts belonging to her to a current account.
The jury of seven men and five women heard how the caller on February 3rd 2016 gave the correct identification details for Ms Twomey’s accounts before asking to transfer €15,000 to a current account in Bank of Ireland, Fermoy belonging to Ms Twomey.
The jury heard transcripts of a further call made on April 8th 2016 in which the caller again gave correct identification details before seeking to transfer €20,000 from a deposit account belonging to Ms Twomey in Bank of Ireland in Midleton to Ms Twomey’s current account in Bank of Ireland, Fermoy.
The transcript of the third call related to a request from the woman purporting to be Ms Twomey to transfer €5,000 from a deposit account at Bank of Ireland in Fermoy to a current account at Bank of Ireland, Fermoy belonging to Ms Twomey.
Det Garda Ryan told the trial that prior to the first transfer in February 2016 the balance in the current account was €561.18 and that prior to the second transfer in April 2016, the balance in the current account was €1,200 and that prior to the third transfer in June 2016, the balance was €76.00.
The trial earlier heard evidence from Ms Twomey’s sister, Betty Darcy who said her sister was mentally fragile at the time and would not have known how to transfer money between accounts and when she listened to recordings of the three phone calls to Bank of Ireland 365, it was not her sister’s voice.
The state alleges that Ms Kenneally used Ms Twomey’s debit card to withdraw cash from ATMs in Kilworth, Fermoy, Mitchelstown, Cork city and Swords in Dublin and to make purchases at a number of shops in the North Cork area, with all monies coming from her current account.
The case continues.
