A former property developer has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to wasting Garda time.
Kevin McGeever, 71, formally of Ballywinna, Craughwell, Co Galway and with an address more recently in Clontarf in Dublin was before Galway Circuit Criminal Court this morning.
The charges followed statements and reports he made to the Garda in 2013, alleging that he had been abducted and held in captivity for eight months.
McGeever was found on a roadside in Co Leitrim in a disheveled state in January that year.
In the weeks that followed he told gardaí he had been kidnapped at gunpoint and held in a steel container, possibly underground, by his captors.
His statements prompted a six-week investigation, costing €86,500 and involving over 3,000 hours of Garda time.
McGeever was later arrested and charged with making false reports and statements to gardaí.
He subsequently admitted fabricating the entire story and today pleaded guilty to a charge of wasting Garda time.
The court heard McGeever owed a considerable amount of money to investors following the economic crash.
He hoped the claim of kidnapping would get a number of them off his back.
McGeever's defence counsel John Jordan said his client had done something "incredibly stupid" and regretted his actions.
Judge Rory McCabe said the charge was of considerable gravity but in light of the defendant's age and the burden already carried by taxpayers as a result of his crime, he suspended a two year prison sentence.
When asked afterwards if he was glad the matter was resolved, McGeever replied: "Figure that out yourself".
