A CROOKED woman faces up to a year in jail when she is sentenced on Friday for stealing almost £100,000 from a Co Derry credit union where she was the assistant manager.
Geraldine O’Kane, of Birren Road, Dungiven, pleaded guilty to 14 charges of theft and one of false accounting at Derry Crown Court.
The 47-year-old was remanded in custody to the women’s prison at Hydebank Wood YOC complex in south Belfast.
The mother-of-five will return to Bishops Street Courthouse in two days time (November 11) when she will stand in the dock of Court 1 and await her sentence.
As she was an assistant manager of the branch, the courts view such crimes much more seriously as she was in a “position of trust” whose job was to “safeguard” money that was deposited with the credit union.
As a result, thief O’Kane could be handed down a prison sentence of up to 12 months behind bars.
The sentence would have been much longer if she had gone to trial and was found guilty by a jury.
But because of her guilty plea, the crown court judge is obliged under sentencing guidelines to give her a discount.
The maximum discount is given to those who admit to their offending when initially interviewed by police.
As O’Kane made full admissions at interview, she will receive the maximum credit of 50 per cent reduction in her sentence.
She stole the £92,000 by forging signatures on accounts which had seen little movement between February 2013 and April 2015.
There were eight victims of her offending – seven women and one man.
The charge sheet states that the offence of false accounting related to “destroying, defacing, concealing or falsifying a certain account record or document namely, withdrawal cheques”
O’Kane had worked for Dungiven Credit Union for 20 years and stole the money following the collapse of her husband’s building business.
All eight victims have had their money repaid to them by Dungiven Credit Union.
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