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A former creche manager has been given a suspended sentence after she admitted stealing more than €13,000 from the Dublin childcare facility where she worked.
Saira Mooneeswamy, 53, with an address at Blessington Street, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to stealing from Hyde & Seek Childcare, Shaw Street, Dublin 2, between 1 April 2018 and 15 July 2019.
She was given a fully-suspended sentence of one year at a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.
The court heard that the parents of one of the children attending the creche said they wanted to stop paying the monthly fees by direct debit and switch to paying cash, as they were applying for a mortgage.
Over the course of 15 months, the parents handed the sum of €13,360 to Mooneeswamy, who was a manager in the Shaw Street facility at the time.
However, the money never reached the creche’s bank account, the court heard.
Detective Garda Sarah Barry told Oisín Clarke BL, prosecuting, that the creche was the subject of an RTÉ Prime Time investigation into breaches of regulations at several Dublin childcare facilities.
Following the Prime Time programme in 2019, the owner of Hyde & Seek stepped down and her daughter took over the running of the crèche.
An audit was done of the finances and it emerged that some of the children’s payments were missing and that the parent of one child seemed to have paid no fees whatsoever.
‘Rather charitable’ victim impact statement
Mooneeswamy attended a garda station voluntarily and said she had paid the money to someone she believed was an employee of Ulster Bank, however gardaí found that her account did not pan out.
She has since repaid the entirety of the money, the court heard, and has been completely cooperative with gardaí.
Mooneeswamy has no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since.
Mr Clarke said a “rather charitable” victim impact statement had been prepared in which the complainants indicated they did not wish for Mooneeswamy to get custodial punishment.
Mooneeswamy is originally from Mauritius and has been in Ireland since the early 2000s, the court heard.
Michael Hourigan BL, defending, said Mooneeswamy has been in gainful employment ever since she came to Ireland.
He said his client wished to apologise for the offence.
The court heard that Mooneeswamy was sending the money to support family members in Mauritius.
Several of her education and training certificates were handed into court.
Judge Martin Nolan said Mooneeswamy had “succumbed to temptation” by engaging in a persistent pattern of behaviour over a period of time.
He said Mooneeswamy was unlikely to reoffend and had a long work history.
He noted that she had repaid most of the money very quickly and that it had all been repaid.
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