Pensioner ‘under duress’ to store counterfeit money

A 75-year-old pensioner was forced under duress to store 170 counterfeit €50 notes by a criminal gang in Limerick. Limerick District Court heard evidence that Frederick Travers, with an address at Scanlan Park, Castleconnell, was arrested and charged under the Theft and Fraud Offences Act following a lengthy surveillance by gardai and Det Garda Pat Whelan. Charges relating to section 35 (2) where a person shall be in breach of the legislation where “without lawful authority or excuse have in his or her custody or under his or her control, anything which is, and which he or she knows or believes to be, a counterfeit of a currency note or coin”.

 

Evidence was given where Det Gda Pat Whelan said that they discovered the 170 notes following a search of the pensioners council house.
He accepted when cross examined by John Herbert solicitor, that Mr Travers was under duress from some “unsavoury characters” connected to a Limerick city criminal gang seen entering and leaving the house in Castleconnell, where the pensioner lived alone.
It was added that Travers was not involved in the production of the notes and that just both he and his house were used to store them.
Travers was described as being “very low on the food chain” in relation to this enterprise, with Mr Herbert noting that “the people involved are very sinister and my client had no choice”.
Judge Eamon O’Brien struck out the charges before the court given the guilty plea entered by the accused and the circumstances surrounding the case.
A charge that was also before the court relating to the possession of two shotgun cartridges was also struck out, as Travers admitted to owning a licensed shotgun over 20 years ago and these two cartridges, he said, had been left over since that time.

Judge Eamon O’Brien, pictured, struck out the charges against the pensioner under the circumstances.