Two brothers have been before Limerick Circuit court charged in connection with staging a road traffic collision in order to claim compensation.
29-year-old Les Markham and his 24-year-old brother Ronnie Dearman, also known as Ronnie Markham with addresses in Rose Court Keyes Park Southill in Limerick, will be sentenced next week.
Les Markham was a passenger with three others people in a Volkswagan Passat car when it was struck with force from behind by a Honda Civic at Derrybeg Cross in Limerick on the night of 6 October 2017.
The driver of the Civic car, 24-year-old Ronnie Dearman, fled the scene.
Gardaí were called and the four occupants of the Passat were brought to hospital by ambulance.
All four subsequently lodged claims for compensation for their injuries to the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland.
Sergeant Adrian Egan of Roxboro station, who investigated the alleged accident, told the court both cars were forensically examined and a DNA sample taken from the airbag in the Civic showed it was from Mr. Dearman, a brother of one of the injured passengers in the other car.
The court heard gardaí were alert from the very start that there was a 'smell' attached to this entire incident.
Following DNA confirmation both brothers were arrested and they made full admissions that the road traffic collision was orchestrated in order to claim compensation.
Judge Tom O'Donnell said he had come across cases of deception in the past, but this was the first prosecution of this nature he had encountered.
He said this was a deliberate attempt to defraud, which fortunately did not come to fruition, but he regarded it as a very serious matter and will sentence both men next week, Thursday 23 July.
