Romanian man convicted in circuit court over damage caused to Co. Tipperary pensioner's home in renovation scam

A Romanian construction worker, who was involved in causing significant damage to the roof of a Clonmel pensioner's home  that left the roof in danger of collapse,   received a 12 month jail term at Clonmel Circuit Court.  

Judge Patrick Meghan imposed the sentence on  Dan Calin, aged 43,  who pleaded guilty at the court to causing criminal damage to the  home of the widower, aged in his 70s, at Summerhill Drive in Clonmel between April 12 and 15, 2016. 

He is the third man to be convicted in relation to the scam that left the pensioner €10,000 out of pocket.  

Mr Calin's two co-accused fellow Romanian Vasile Moronsanu and Denis Harrington of Ballyspillane, Killarney, Co. Kerry pleaded guilty at Clonmel Circuit Court in December 2016 to their role in the incident. 

Mr Moronsanu received a 12 month jail term with the final three months suspended for causing criminal damage to the house while Mr Harrington, the ring leader, received a three year suspended jail sentence, for dishonestly by deception inducing the elderly man to give him €10,000 with the intention of making gain for himself or another.

Mr Calin left the country for Spain after he was charged with the offence in 2016 and was brought back to Ireland last October under a European Arrest Warrant to face the criminal damage charge.  

 Judge Patrick Meghan backdated the commencement of the 12 month jail sentence he imposed on  Mr Calin to the date he went into custody in early September last year when he was first arrested in Spain.

And he suspended the final months of the sentence on condition Mr Calin immediately return to Spain, which he did a few days after the court hearing. 

Recounting the evidence, Sgt. Kieran O'Regan said leaflets were put through the elderly householder's letter box advertising general repair work. 

 He phoned the contact number and a man, who later transpired to be Denis Harrington, came to his house. Mr Harrington offered to paint the outside of the house and convert the attic space for €14,000.  The owner agreed  and Mr Harrington required him to pay €10,000 cash so works could commence immediately.

  Two Romanian nationals commenced work on the attic of the house  on April 12, 2016.  They carried out works that “drastically altered the roof structure”. 

 The owner became suspicious and declined to pay any further money until the job was done. On April 13, the house owner became alarmed about alterations to his home. He contacted the gardai who came to his house.

 It was apparent that vital roof timbers were removed and the roof frame hadn't been reinforced.  

Sgt. O'Regan gardai were satisfied  considerable damage was done to the roof structure which could possibly result in roof collapse.  

Dan Calin received a call to his mobile from Harrington requesting to speak to the house owner. 

 The elderly man spoke to Mr Harrington on the phone and put him on loud speaker. Denis Harrington requested him to pay over a further money  for the purchase of floor materials.  

 The resident told him he wasn't handing over any more money.  Mr Harrington said he couldn't come to the house as he was in Killarney and requested to speak to Dan Calin. The phone was handed back to him. 

The Romanian workers then left the address in haste. The gardai, who were conducting surveillance on the house, stopped the Romanians' van, arrested them and brought them to Clonmel Garda Station

While being interviewed by gardai, he identified Denis Harrington, confirmed he organised the job and provided the gardai with Mr Harrington's personal contact details and how he came to know him. 

The information he gave was highly accurate. 

 “He made open and honest admissions accounting for his own actions and the actions of Mr Harrington,” Sergeant O'Regan continued.  He also apologised for the damage he caused to the house. 

Mr Calin admitted he wasn't qualified to carry out the work on this house.  

“They didn't know what they were doing and they knew what they were doing was unsafe,” said sergeant. 

Sgt. O'Regan outlined that engineer Michael Reilly surveyed the damage to the roof . He  found  the removal of vital supports from the roof was a very serious breach of regulations and left the roof in danger of imminent collapse if there were high winds. 

 He concluded the contractors were “completely reckless” in removing the roof timbers. 

In a Victim Impact Statement, Sgt. O'Regan read to the court, the home owner said he was reluctant to open his door to callers  and was nervous of dealing with strangers since this incident. This prevented people from visiting and made his life more lonely. 

He also outlined that the €10,000 he lost  was money he saved over a long period for a rainy day. 

Sgt. O'Regan said the resident has since been compensated for the money he lost. He understood Mr Harrington paid the compensation. 

The sergeant added that Mr Calin didn't receive any payment for the work he did on this job. 

He was given money to buy supplies. 

He came to Ireland from Spain in late 2015 and stayed in various B&Bs while in Ireland.  

The court heard Mr Calin was charged before a special sitting of Clonmel District Court but failed to attend a later district court sitting in July, 2016. 

Defence barrister Edward O'Mahony acknowledged this was an “opportunistic” offence that caused huge loss to a vulnerable member of the community but pointed out his client wasn't the “ring leader” but was “far down the food chain” of this enterprise. 

He said Mr Calin knew the work he was doing was substandard but Mr Harrington threatened him and put him under pressure to complete the work anyway. 

He stressed there was no premeditation on his client's part. 

Mr O'Mahony said  his client was in custody since September 3 last year first in Spain and then in Ireland since October 18. 

 He  was also  in custody for about six weeks in 2016 in relation to this offence.  

This meant he had already spent eight and a half months in custody, which was similar to the period of time his co-accused  Vasile Moronsanu spent in custody for the same offence. 

The barrister explained his client's wife was in Spain and requested Judge Meghan to suspend the rest of the sentence he intended imposing to allow his client to return to Spain as soon as he was released from custody. 

After hearing all the evidence, Judge Meghan said this was a scam with Mr Harrington as the ring leader. The elderly resident of the house was endangered because the removal of the roof timbers meant there was a danger of roof collapse. 

As Mr Moronsanu received a 12 months prison sentence,  he was going to also impose a 12 months term on Mr Calin as he believed there was nothing to separate them apart from the fact Mr Calin left the jurisdiction. 

After backdating the commencement of the prison term to the day he went into custody under the European Arrest Warrant, the judge suspended the rest of the  sentence for six months starting from the day of the sentencing hearing last month.  

He then directed Mr Calin to leave Ireland within three days of the court hearing.