Further delay in case of Letterkenny woman who defrauded €70,000 after father’s death

A further adjournment has been granted in the case of a Letterkenny woman who defrauded almost €70,000 from the State pension for three years after her father's death.

Letterkenny Circuit Court heard that an uncle of Shauna Tynan has passed away. Ms Tynan has inherited the deceased’s estate, which ‘will take some time’, the court was told.

Tynan’s barrister, Ms Patricia McCallum BL, sought an adjournment of the case, telling Judge John Aylmer: “Matters are moving forward and progressing.”

Ms Fiona Crawford BL, barrister for the State, confirmed that no monies have yet been paid and nothing has been forthcoming regarding the selling of another piece of land previously indicated to the court.

Ms Crawford said there was no State objection to another adjournment in the case.

At the last sitting of Letterkenny Circuit Court in October, Tynan (56) of Slieve Sneacht, Letterkenny, was given a ‘last chance’ to sell land left to her by her late mother to fund the payback.

Tynan received €32,222 in carer’s allowance and a further €34,265.60 in respect of a State pension following the death of her father in October, 2013.

The sale of a portion of land on Arranmore Island which she was left by her late mother was due to fund a payback of the monies.

In October, Ms McCallum said that there had been an unavoidable delay in selling the land.

Ms McCallum explained that one estate agent directed to sell the land had a conflict of interest while another estate agent encountered a backlog of sales and that it would now be two to three weeks before it could go on the market.

Tynan is currently repaying €25.13 each week and has to date repaid more than €10,000.

In respect of the carer's allowance Tynan has a balance of more than €21,000 to pay back.

Judge Aylmer previously indicated that he was anxious to deal with the matter by way of a non-custodial sentence, but also warned that he will ‘completely review’ the matter if this is not forthcoming from Tynan.

Judge Aylmer adjourned the case until the April sessions of Letterkenny Circuit Court.