By Irishexaminer.com Liz Dunphy
“I promise I won’t let you down,” she told Mr Blake in one of many messages between the pair read out to Waterford Circuit Court. She wanted “ordinary people” to have fun and make money from horses, she said.
While there were huge profits, often tax-free, in the industry, they were currently being made by only a few and she said she believed in opening that opportunity to more people.
In messages, she told him of her international travel and of buying and selling horses. She also spoke of how much of her time and resources she gave to charities, helping children with additional needs and the poverty stricken in India.
She spoke of caring for her elderly uncle and visiting her father’s grave.
“You’re an angel sent from heaven,” Mr Blake said in one of their many messages when she promised him large, tax-free profits from equine investments she would organise for him.
“I just want ordinary people to see the equine world, enjoy it and benefit from it,” Ms O’Brien said in a message.
She claimed that investing breeding rights in the stallion was a “zero-risk investment”, with returns of €14,000 for the first three years, with the first return due in just months. Mr Blake said that the investment was too good to be true in messages.
But he never got the promised return on investment, prosecuting barrister Conor O’Doherty told Waterford Circuit court, while opening the case for the State.
While Mr Blake had little to no knowledge of the bloodstock industry, Ms O’Brien claimed to have a lot of knowledge of the equine industry, Mr O’Doherty said. She said that he could make huge profits by investing in a brood mare to be covered by the thoroughbred stallion Shakeel which he had already invested in.
French mare – Lingreville
For another €20,000 investment, he could buy a French mare called Lingreville, which had already raced and produced some foals and which she would keep for him for free in her Cork property. Lingreville had been sold to Mr Blake as a brood mare of exceptional pedigree which would be a brilliant investment, Mr O’Doherty told the jury.
Mr Blake would also have to pay €984 to transport the mare from France to Ireland to prove ownership, she said, Mr O’Doherty told the court. Ms O’Brien told him she was buying a large volume of mares to try to make the stallion Shakeel – which he had already invested in – a success.
Mr Blake was not a man of considerable financial means and €20,000 was a lot of money, particularly after putting in money already for the breeding rights share on the stallion Shakeel, Mr O’Doherty told the court.
“He told her he would have to get a credit union loan,” Mr O’Doherty said.
John Blake did hand over €20,000 he got from a credit union loan.
But this money was to go to Ms O’Brien directly – not to the agent selling the horse in France – Mr O’Doherty said.
Ms O’Brien is accused of deception charges related to John Blake and the purchase, transport and insurance of a French mare called Lingreville.
It is alleged that she “dishonestly by deception” induced Mr Blake to pay €20,000 to purchase the horse – which was not purchased, the State alleges; to pay €1,100 insurance for the mare – which the State said was not paid; and €984 to transport the horse from France to Ireland – which was not transported as alleged.
Ms O’Brien, of An Grianan, Ballinroad, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to the three charges of making gain or causing loss by deception contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.
Ms O’Brien, aged 47, formerly living in Buttevant, Co Cork, is represented by defence barrister Simon Donagh, BL, instructed by solicitor Ray Kavanagh. The trial, in front of his Honour Judge Eugene O’Kelly and a jury of seven women and five men, continues.