Man who conned Donegal women in fake concert and rugby ticket scam jailed

A man who conned two women out of money for concert and match tickets which never existed has been jailed.

Vincent McDonagh appeared by video link at Letterkenny District Court where he pleaded to the charges.

Garda Sergeant Jim Collins outlined the background to the thefts.

He told how McDonagh, 33, had advertised two tickets for a Post Malone concert on the DoneDeal website.

A woman transferred €160 to a Western Union account and the money was withdrawn by McDonagh on October 31, 2018 but the tickets never arrived.

On November 1, 2018, McDonagh advertised two rugby tickets for a game between Ireland and New Zealand.

Another woman transferred €150 for the tickets and this was also withdrawn from a Western Union account by McDonagh but again, the tickets never arrived.

Both charges are contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act of 2001.

The court was told that McDonagh, of Lord Edward St, Kilkenny, had 25 previous convictions for a range of offences including burglary, theft and criminal damage.

Solicitor for the accused, Mr Rory O'Brien, said a lot of time had elapsed since these incidents and his client was now a different man with the passage of time.

He had moved to Northern Ireland to rebuild his life after having issues with alcohol and also cocaine.

However, he was now in a supportive relationship and all he could do was to apologise and to say sorry for anyone he had let down.

He added that McDonagh wanted to put this behind him and finish with this tranche of his life and to continue to rebuild his life aged just 33.

Judge Emile Daly said the money was paid in good faith for these tickets but this was a fabrication and there were no such tickets.

She added that even though time had passed, the parties were still impacted and that both women were still out of pocket.

Judge Daly said she was happy to hear that McDonagh was now settled and in a stable relationship.

However, she sentenced McDonagh to two months in prison for each theft charge and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

She also took a public order charge at Dry Arch, Letterkenny against the accused into account.