Former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey has been jailed for five and a half years for defrauding people by falsely claiming he had cancer and needed money for treatment.
Carey was remanded in custody last Friday after Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard he defrauded 22 people out of a total of almost €400,000. Just over €44,000 has been repaid.
Judge Martin Nolan told the court he could not imagine a more reprehensible fraud. He said Carey had exploited people's good nature.
Carey pleaded guilty in July to ten counts of dishonestly inducing people to pay him money for cancer treatment.
Eight similar offences were taken into consideration by the court along with two counts of using a fake letter purporting to be from a hospital in Seattle to perpetrate his fraud.
Read more:
Inside DJ Carey's con: How a legend deceived and defrauded
Judge Nolan said that almost all defrauding cases appeal to the weaknesses of human beings, and that weakness is usually greed.
"This is not the case here, Mr Carey exploited the good nature of people," he told the court today.
He said that it was "very hard to know what motivated Mr Carey" but since his guilty pleas he had been subjected to "public odium and ridicule" and that his "good name will probably never recover".
Court told of Carey's stunning fall from grace
Judge Nolan remanded him in custody last Friday after hearing evidence of his offences and victim impact statements from two of his victims.
The judge told Carey he faced an inevitable prison sentence.
Carey's defence counsel told the court he had suffered a stunning fall from grace and was now something of a pariah.
One of those whose victim impact statement was read to the court was businessman Denis O'Brien, who gave him more than €125,000 and provided him with accommodation and transport.
He said Carey came back to him looking for help time and time again, taking advantage of his friendship. He was, he said, completely duped.
Other victims included a cousin of Carey's along with friends and work colleagues and people who knew of him through his GAA career.
When gardaí investigated, there was no record of Carey ever having had cancer or being treated abroad.
His defence counsel said Carey had "fallen into a rut" with financial difficulties after his business collapsed and should have reached out for help in a legitimate way.
Judge Nolan said those who gave him money responded to him in a generous way in what they thought was his hour of need and he applauded them.
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Victim impact statements
The court also heard a victim impact statement from Thomas Butler, who got to know Carey through work, as well as through an interest in golf and GAA.
He gave Carey just over €16,000 and he told the court he never imagined that it would lead to six years' embarrassment in the public eye and constant references to him by people who were shocked he had given him money.
He said it was gut wrenching as both his parents had died of cancer. He said he was made to look very stupid or very naïve.
Mr Butler said he had five children and never had spare money to give them when they were growing up, but he had given Carey money out of his pension lump sum.
He said he was a true Kilkenny supporter and he was not comfortable writing the victim impact statement, but he said it had to be done to ensure Carey no longer took advantage of other innocent individuals.
Margaret and Ger Kirwan gave Carey €4,000 after he told them he was suffering from the same type of cancer as Ms Kirwan.
The court was told Ms Kirwan had to give a statement to gardaí in the middle of her own cancer treatment. The €4,000 was eventually paid back.
Tom Brennan who had been in the same school as Carey gave him €120,000. He eventually obtained a judgment against him in the civil courts but the money has not been repaid.
'Heartfelt, sincere apology'
The court heard Carey told most of his victims that he was receiving treatment in Seattle in the US and needed funds for treatment.
In some cases, he told them he was due a payout from the HSE for a negligence case he claimed he had taken against St James's Hospital in Dublin.
Sergeant Michael Bourke told prosecuting counsel Dominic McGinn that a Seattle hospital Carey claimed to have been treated in had no record of him ever being treated there.
His GP had no record of him ever having cancer. There was no record of any outstanding claim against the HSE or the hospital, and he had not travelled to the US since 2015.
When Carey was questioned in December 2022, he admitted he had made up the story about being sick with cancer to buy himself time as he had a substantial debt with AIB bank and that he had asked people for financial help.
The court heard there was no immediate prospect of Carey being able to repay his victims. But his defence counsel, Colman Cody, said he was instructed to offer a "heartfelt, sincere apology" to every victim.
He said Carey was suffering from a chronic heart condition. He submitted that going to prison was an enormous punishment and urged the court not to impose a disproportionate sentence.
Judge Nolan told Carey a custodial term was inevitable.
The maximum sentence for each count faced by Carey was five years in prison.
Additional reporting PA
