A Galway native who had been buying and selling vehicles between the UK and Ireland for more than four decades was branded in court this week as an “utter conman” after he failed to contest the charge of being in possession of a stolen vehicle and was fined €1,000 and given a 12 month suspended sentence.
Martin Mongan (62 ) who resides in the UK but has an address in this jurisdiction of 13 Ashbrook, Tuam Road, Galway, denied the charge of handling of a van which had been reported stolen in London in 2008.
Inspector Ernie Whyte read from the statement given by Stephen Green which outlined how he had been in the Croyden area with a white Ford transit van owned by the company he worked for. He had been moving items into a house with the keys in his pocket when a man bumped into him. Thinking nothing of it Mr Green continued to move the items when suddenly the van was driven away.
Garda Darragh Ainsworth gave evidence in court that in 2009 he had been carrying out enquiries in relation to stolen vehicles in the Galway area. It came to his attention that a van had been stolen in the UK and re-registered in the Republic of Ireland. On August 1, 2009, Mongan had left the van at a garage for repairs and Garda Ainsworth spoke to the mechanic who then attached the vehicle to a Ford computer which retrieved details of the true registration from the engine control unit.
Referring to a statement Garda Ainsworth said that Mongan told gardai he had been trading in motor vehicles between UK and Ireland at the time and had met with a man named John Brown in Hammersmith and swapped another vehicle for this van. Mongan had denied any knowledge of the van being stolen and said that he had “bought it in good faith”. However, Garda Ainsworth said that the name of Paul Walsh had been forged on the transfer of ownership form and that Mongan had several Ford Transit vans which were seized on suspicion of being stolen. Under cross examination by defence solicitor Sarah O’Dowd, Garda Ainsworth said that enquiries were made to locate John Brown but the UK police were unable to find him.
Witness for the State, Mr Paul Walsh, gave evidence that he had never owned the van and had never signed the change of ownership form. He further explained that he had known the defendant from many years back, that he had bought a different van from him five to six years ago, but he denied that there was any arrangement to sell this particular van to a family member.
When the defendant took the stand he gave evidence that he had been going back and forth to England for 42 years buying and selling vehicles. He said that Paul Walsh’s name had been signed because he intended to sell it to a family member. When Inspector Ernie Whyte put it to Mongan he had refused to tell gardai who had signed Mr Walsh’s name, Mongan replied: “Some local person did it.”
“His evidence lacks total credibility, there must be 5,000 John Browns in England. If that person existed the police would be able to track him down. He forged someone else’s signature, ” said Judge Mary Fahy who was then told that Mongan has two previous convictions in this jurisdiction for drink driving in 1998 and dangerous driving and drink driving in 1991, as well as nine convictions in the UK including theft of a vehicle, handling/driving a stolen vehicle in 2008, interfering with a vehicle in 2005, and a number of road traffic offences as well as assault causing bodily harm.
“He is a total and utter out and out conman. His record is appalling,” said Judge Fahy. The court then heard that Mongan is in bad health, however he was unable to provide any evidence of this. In relation to witness expenses and means of paying compensation, Garda Ainsworth explained that he was informed that Mongan owns several vehicles around Ireland.
“His credibility is gone. I am taking away his legal aid, he has the means. He says he is in ill health yet he has no evidence of this. I don’t think the taxpayers of Ireland should pay,” said Judge Fahy who then ordered that the €150 lodged for bail should be used to pay witness expenses.
Mongan was convicted of handling the stolen vehicle and fined €1,000 with three months to pay and sentenced to 12 months in jail suspended for five years on condition that he enter into his own bond of €1,000 to be of good behaviour and stay away from Galway city and county. He was also disqualified from driving for five years.
