By Eimear Dodd
Former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey has been jailed for five and a half years for the “reprehensible” defrauding of almost €400,000 from over 20 people while pretending to have cancer.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the former GAA All-Star defrauded in total €394,127 and $13,000 US dollars from the injured parties over a period between 2014 and 2022. €44,200 has been repaid, leaving €349,927 and $13,000 US dollars outstanding.
Carey (54) pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dishonestly inducing others to pay money to him after fraudulently claiming to have cancer.
A further eight charges of dishonestly inducing others to pay money and two counts of using a false instrument with the intention of inducing another to accept it as genuine were taken into consideration by the court.
Carey, with an address before the court of The Drive, Newtown, Maynooth, Co Kildare, told injured parties that he had cancer and needed money as he was undergoing treatment in Seattle.
Imposing sentence today (MONDAY), Judge Martin Nolan said Carey “took advantage of people’s good nature and goodwill towards him”.
The judge said this was a “very low fraud” and Carey’s behaviour was “reprehensible” and “very serious”.
He said Carey promised to repay money, but “he knew at the time he could never repay the money”.
Judge Nolan said the injured parties “must have looked in mirror and said ‘how foolish am I?’”
But he said they were “good natured people” who had lost money and possibly some of their faith in other people.
The judge noted Carey was “one of best known hurlers ever” whose reputation has been destroyed. He noted the mitigation included Carey’s guilty plea and co-operation with gardai.
The judge imposed a global sentence of five and half years, having set a global headline sentence of eight to 10 years.
The judge handed Carey a four-year sentence and a consecutive one-and-a-half year sentence.
Judge Nolan said the court “cannot imagine a more reprehensible form” of fraud, other than a person deceiving 17 or 18 very elderly people.
Carey, dressed in a plum-coloured tartan blazer, dark coloured trousers, a blue striped shirt and patterned tie, made no reaction as sentence was imposed.
The court was standing room only as the sentence was finalised.
Last Friday, the court heard that Carey obtained various amounts between €250 and €125,000 from the injured parties. Many of his victims gave him around €10,000 or €25,000, often on the understanding that it was a loan which would be repaid.
Carey has only repaid €44,200 in total, and many of his victims remain out of pocket.
Some of the injured parties had been friendly with Carey, while others were acquainted with him through his reputation as a sportsman, the court was told. Carey is regarded as one of the greatest hurlers to have played the game, winning five All-Ireland senior medals with Kilkenny, including captaining the county to the Liam McCarthy cup in 2002.
The court was told that Carey showed four of the injured parties scars on his head, which he claimed were from treatment for cancer in Seattle. The Fred Hutch Cancer Centre in Seattle told gardai that Carey had never been a patient there.
Carey also told some injured parties that he was due a payment from the HSE for a medical claim of over €1 million in relation to treatment at St James’ Hospital.
Detective Sergeant Mike Bourke told Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, that there are no records of a claim by Carey against the HSE or that he was treated at St James’ Hospital.
Enquiries also confirmed that Carey has not travelled to the United States since 2015 and his medical records, which he allowed gardai to access, had nothing in relation to cancer treatment.
Carey was voluntarily interviewed by gardai in December 2022. He said he wanted to buy himself time as he owed a substantial debt to AIB and he asked people for financial help while pretending to be sick. He said he had never been sick and never sought treatment abroad.
Carey has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since. The court was told that Carey does have a genuine history of a heart condition, which required surgery.
Colman Cody SC, defending, asked the court to consider the situation in which Carey found himself at the time, living a “transient lifestyle”, with periods sleeping in his car and not working.
Counsel said his client had “suffered a stunning fall from grace”, had “already suffered significantly by virtue of the ignominy and derision in which he is held” and is now “something of a pariah”.
Mr Cody said his client has asked him “to offer a heartfelt and sincere apology” to all of the injured parties.
He told the court there is “no immediate prospect of restitution”.
