Week of evidence: Accused woman takes the stand in deception trial over alleged 'fictitious' horse
Catherine O’Brien, of An Grianan, Ballinroad, Dungarvan, pictured at Waterford Circuit Court. Photo: Dan Linehan
The trial of fraud-accused Catherine O'Brien continued last week at Waterford Circuit Court.
On Friday, July 11, Ms O’Brien (47), of An Grianan, Ballinrud, Dungarvan, was cross-examined by State Prosecutor Conor O’Doherty before a jury of seven women and five men. She is charged with three counts of making gain or causing loss by deception contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 against complainant John Blake.
She repeatedly rejected any claim that she had lied or deceived complainant Mr Blake into paying her thousands of euros for a "fictitious broodmare".
The parties first came into contact through the dating site Plenty o' Fish in late 2017 and began a regular correspondence.
Messages detailed how Mr Blake came to invest €20,000 into the breeding rights of a stallion horse named Shakeel based in Ireland.
O'Brien claimed to have bought the stallion in late 2017 from renowned breeder Aga Khan. In January 2018, she sent Mr Blake a picture of the thoroughbred stallion Shakeel.
O'Brien told Blake through Whatsapp that there was "zero" risk for investing in the breeding rights of the stallion, promising a yearly return of €14,000, tax-free.
She messaged: "I'd really love for ordinary people to do well in the equine industry."
Mr Blake wrote that the premise was "too good to be true". In the messages, O'Brien claimed to want to "help people" experience and thrive in the equine industry: "Success should be shared."
Over several months, O'Brien wrote about the work she put into buying broodmares and trying to attract investors into buying breeding rights. She claimed at the time to have bought 72 mares, but needed 150.
Shortly after he invested €20,000 of his savings into the breeding rights of Shakeel, O'Brien broached the subject of buying a broodmare for the stallion.
She claimed to have found a mare named Lingreville from French blood agent Guy Petit. It was understood to Mr Blake that the mare would be brought to Ireland to be 'covered' by Shakeel. After some discussion, Mr Blake agreed to pay €20,000 for the horse, and secured a loan from the Credit Union.
By April 2018, he was shown a mare that he believed to be Lingreville at the Kinnegad stud farm in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, alongside O'Brien's associate John Walsh.
Defence barrister Simon Donagh put it to Mr Blake that the horse he had actually purchased was a mare named Shamalana, not Lingreville. Mr Blake rejected the claim.
In September 2021, the DPP charged Ms O’Brien on three charges of deception. Ms O’Brien told the court that she was unaware of any attempts by Gardaí to arrest her on these charges.
She said to the court that she had read an article in the Irish Examiner in 2023 about her being "sought by Gardaí" but “took it with a pinch of salt because it’s a newspaper”.
She claimed that her solicitor Ray Kavanagh did not make contact to inform her about the Gardaí looking for her.
In June 2024, she was arrested by Gardaí in Slane while driving a car owned by a man named Karl Leavy. She said in court: “I wasn’t avoiding Gardaí.”
She claimed that she left the jurisdiction because she "wasn’t comfortable" living in Dungarvan after a purported harassment incident.
She said: “This was a horrible, scary event in my life, my life was threatened, my children’s lives were threatened.”
Over the years since the incident, she claimed to have worked in foaling in Newry, Co. Down, Co. Louth and Co. Meath, and visited Waterford and Cork.
Detective Garda Martin Keohane gave evidence via video link about an alleged incident that occurred on September 21, 2019. On that date, the accused claimed that several men had come to her house in Dungarvan, threatened her and demanded €46,000 from her.
Det. Keohane confirmed that he had seen a video of a man wearing a balaclava sitting in the back seat of a car, purportedly outside of O’Brien's home, asking for "money owed", stating that the "problem wasn’t going anywhere" and threatening to damage the house. Det Keohane confirmed that there was no prosecution in the matter.
Mr O’Doherty noted that two people had been sent forward for trial in the Circuit Court for several years but a nolle prosequi verdict had to be given. Det. Keohane stated that Ms O’Brien "never came to court" over the case. He further stated that O’Brien "couldn’t be located" in Waterford for a "number of years".
When asked about the alleged harassment she reported at her house in Dungarvan, Ms O’Brien said that men had been shouting through her letterbox and rattling her side gate before sending her a WhatsApp video message "demanding" €45,000.
Ms O’Brien said that she went to report the incident at Waterford City Garda Station because she "didn’t have a good relationship" with Gardaí in Dungarvan. The case was sent back to Dungarvan because of jurisdiction.
Prosecution went over the messages shared between the accused and the complainant.
Mr O’Doherty drew attention to a message where she claimed to have sold five mares for €300,000. The defendant claimed that she was acting as an agent for a number of investors. She declined to name the investors, telling Mr O’Doherty: “I can’t remember, this was seven years ago.” She maintained that she was working under the instruction of equine partner John Walsh but when pressed for evidence and documents, she said she didn’t have them available.
Mr O’Doherty asked about the 13 and a half months-long gestation period for Shamalana’s foal. Ms O’Brien said that the foal is now a horse and is "very much on the ground", living on Bishopstown Stud with Mr Walsh.
Mr O’Doherty repeatedly asked about the true owner of the stallion Shakeel. Ms O’Brien gave a number of answers about the owners, at one point saying the owner was defence witness John Walsh, their unregistered company Classic Thoroughbreds and Eclipse Penumbra Holding Ltd. He asked how her alleged friend and barrister Michael Egan fitted in the equation.
Ms O’Brien said: “He used the stallion on some of his own broodmares.”
Mr O’Doherty said: “So there were three of you?”
She replied: “He [Mr Egan] was involved in the promotion but he didn’t own it.”
She claimed that he was the "frontperson" for the stallion and she has "no experience in standing a stallion".
Mr O’Doherty responded: “You were holding yourself as an expert in this area, you sourced this horse.”
Later in proceedings, Mr O’Doherty asked if the stallion had produced any winners. The court heard that one of Shakeel’s progeny had placed in a race in Slovakia.
Communications between Mr Blake and Ms O'Brien came to an abrupt end in September 2019, when Mr Blake learned that the horse he thought he had purchased, Lingreville, had never left France. In June 2019, O'Brien told Mr Blake that the mare had given birth to a foal after a 13-month gestation, and sent him videos of a colt.
Between 2018 and 2019 Mr Blake tried to arrange to meet with Ms O'Brien and to see the mare only for meetings to be cancelled last minute due to various misfortunes suffered by O'Brien.
By September 2019, however, Mr Blake travelled to Lismore to find John Walsh and his home, where he believed Lingreville to be. At this address, Mr Blake learned that the horse was not there, and eventually learned that the horse was never registered as having left France. He messaged O'Brien multiple times seeking answers about the horse and the foal. O'Brien wrote: "I have CCTV and I have your car reg and I have gone to the Guards.
"Should anything happen to me John I have sent these texts to others."
Mr Blake responded: "Not my problem nothing to do with me."
Ms O’Brien told the court that at that time she had "weeks from hell" due to an "incident" in Wexford. She said that John Walsh had moved from the stud farm in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, to a stud in Wexford, bringing a number of horses with him.
She said: “There had been an incident with the horses in Wexford. The situation wasn’t very good.”
In a message sent on August 12, 2019, she wrote to Mr Blake: “John, I’m in terrible trouble and I’d like to talk to you.”
He replied: “Katie, you’ve been hiding from me for a long time.”
She wrote: “Whatever happens, you are a nice person and I want to do my best for you.”
She explained that she had been under a "huge amount of stress" over the "horrible situation in Wexford".
He wrote back: “I had great faith in you Katie.”
In court, Ms O’Brien said that at this time: “I had reached an all-time level of low. It was a very terrible time.” She said that newspaper articles had come out about the "Wexford situation" and that she was being contacted by journalists.
The jury heard about an "incident in Wexford" that Ms O’Brien had earlier alluded to. According to Ms O’Brien, John Walsh brought the mares from Kinnegad to a stable farm in Wexford in spring 2019. She attended to the farm during the month of April but told Mr Walsh that she couldn’t travel from Dungarvan anymore because she had two children.
She told the court that during that time Mr Walsh had a "mental breakdown" after a foal and a mare died on the farm. She said: “He was in a bad way.”
In June 2019, she purportedly received a phone call from the Irish Horse Welfare Trust. The Trust visited the farm and took the horses into care after a veterinary check. Ms O’Brien called the incident "traumatic".
Mr O’Doherty put it to Ms O’Brien that she inflated the value of the stallion to entice Mr Blake into purchasing the breeding rights. She rejected the claim and said that it was up to Mr Blake to "manage his investment" and that it was "unfair" to say that he had bought the rights, or the broodmare, based on what they spoke about.
Mr O’Doherty asked if Mr Blake ever received the "guaranteed" €7,000 for the breeding rights. Ms O’Brien said no. She said: “John Blake made his own decision, that was his own choice."
Mr O’Doherty responded: “He did it because you convinced him to do it.”
The trial continues.
