'Stunning fall from grace' - Judge warns DJ Carey jail time 'inevitable', as former Kilkenny star remanded in custody

Former Kilkenny GAA star DJ Carey has been told that he will receive a custodial sentence after receiving more than €394,000 from friends, family and fans to treat a cancer he never had.

The ex-hurler, 54, was remanded in custody on Friday after a sentencing hearing at Dublin Criminal Courts of Justice and will return to court to hear his sentence on Monday. He pleaded guilty in July to ten counts of inducing people to give him money after fraudulently claiming to have cancer.

Prosecuting counsel Dominic McGinn told the court he carried out a “series of deceptions” as he outlined the details of each count against Carey. The court heard how gardai were first alerted to Carey’s crimes by a financial institution, when one of their customers who was “getting on in years” tried to transfer money to him.

Carey told his victims he needed treatment in Seattle, in the US, for cancer, telling several that his status as an “elite athlete” meant he would receive some free treatment but needed help with travel, additional treatment and living costs. 

Among those he defrauded was billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien who gave him €125,182 and $13,000, none of which has been repaid. He also provided use of a house and a car for a period of time.

The court heard they first met on a golf trip to South Africa in 1997 and often played together when Carey was living on the Mount Juliet Estate, where Mr O’Brien also had a house. Carey had told him he owed AIB “a substantial amount of money”, and asked for help with cancer treatment.

When Mr O’Brien’s accountant, Ann Foley, asked for a medical letter, he provided two, which appeared to be from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Centre in Seattle. When gardai contacted the centre they said they had no record of him ever being treated there.

In a victim impact statement read to the court Mr O’Brien said: “To my embarrassment I was completely duped by DJ Carey.”

In mitigation, defence counsel Colman Cody said Carey’s guilty plea prevented a “lengthy and complex” trial taking place.

He also said Carey had suffered a “stunning fall from grace” and was now “something of a pariah”.

Judge Martin Nolan said all of the injured parties should be “complimented”, adding “they may feel foolish” but were “genuinely good people who responded to Carey “in a very generous way in his hour of need”.

The sentencing was to have taken place on Wednesday, but the court heard Mr Carey was in hospital and unable to attend.