A judge accepted the arithmetic correction of a solicitor in court this week (April 27 ) after he miscalculated by a factor of nine the period of restitution required by a former employee trying to pay back over €10,000.
Almost a year ago (May 5, 2010 ) Gatis Sedlins (32 ), The Moorings, Ballymahon Road, Athlone pleaded guilty to 21 counts of theft, totalling €10,330, between September 2009 and May 2010 from the till at Mulligans filling station on the Roscommon Road.
At his last appearance on February 2, Sedlins promised to repay €100 a week after he started a job as a farm labourer in the UK in the interim, and was told then he would continue to avoid jail if his promise to maintain restitution payments was shown to be kept up at his next court date on April 27.
Sedlins’ solicitor, Mr Mark Cooney handed in the latest instalment of €780, and told the court his client was keeping up the proposed repayments of €100 per week.
However, when Judge Seamus Hughes tried to work out in his head how long this would take to pay back the entire amount he must have forgotten to carry something, and voiced his displeasure to Mr Cooney at the estimated “18 years” it was going to take to do this.
“Judge? A €100 a week is €5,200 a year. That’s over €10,000 in two years,” corrected Mr Cooney.
“Oh yes. Yes, it is,” accepted Judge Hughes, before remanding Sedlins on continuing bail until July 7 to asssess whether that payment is continuing.
