A man who appeared in the District Court in west Cork charged with five counts of deception under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001 has had his bail application refused.
Trevor O'Brien, 50, of Knocks, Lyre, Clonakilty Co Cork appeared before Judge Monika Leech at Clonakilty District Court.
Court presenter Sergeant Tom Mulcahy said the State would be objecting to bail under Section 2 of the Bail Act, 1997.
Detective Garda Hugh Byrne gave evidence of arrest charge and caution.
He told the court he arrested Mr O’Brien at 10:35am at Bandon Garda Station and the accused made no reply when the charges were put to him.
He said that in addition to the five charges before the court there were a further 45 alleged injured parties pertaining to 53 separate allegations dating from 2008 to 2024.
He said that a search was conducted at Mr O’Brien’s residence on Thursday, 14 November where gardaí allegedly seized more than €344,000 in cash.
Defence solicitor Éamonn Flemming said that his client had been cooperative, that he was not a flight risk and that there was no question of any threat of violence or potential intimidation of witnesses.
Judge Leech said that on the basis of the evidence presented she was satisfied that bail should be denied because there was a reasonable expectation that Mr O’Brien would commit alleged serious offences.
She remanded him in custody to appear again before Bandon District Court on Friday, 20 December.
