Update.
A “psychic medium” described by a judge as “an old-fashioned confidence trickster” has been jailed for a year after she got a man to give her €10,000 by telling him his deceased father had told her that if he did not give her the money “the devil would take his soul”.
Debbie Paget (55), of Knowth Court, Ballymun, Dublin, was convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury last May.
She had pleaded not guilty to dishonestly inducing by deception James Byrne to give her €10,000. She was also charged with dishonestly inducing by deception Maria Byrne, Mr Byrne’s sister, to give her €200.
After deliberating for a little over four hours, the jury found Paget guilty, by a majority, of the first count and returned a not guilty verdict on the second count. ...
Judge Pauline Codd said it was quite clear from Mr Byrne’s demeanour in court that he is a vulnerable person. She said Paget had told him that his deceased father had told her that if Mr Byrne did not give her €10,000 “the devil would take his soul”.
She said Paget was criminally liable as she had taken large sums of money under threat, “even though those are supernatural threats”. The judge described the offence as “cunning and manipulative” and that Paget had “taken advantage” of Mr Byrne.
“Far from offering him spiritual comfort, she devised a make-believe threat to his soul,” Judge Codd said before she added that it doesn’t matter that the threat seemed “fantastical” because Mr Byrne believed it to be true and felt obligated to hand over the cash.
“Needless to say, her objective was far more worldly in nature, to enrich herself by manipulating a vulnerable man whose buttons she knew how to press,” Judge Codd continued.
She described Paget as “an old-fashioned confidence trickster” and added that the offence represented a breach of trust.
Judge Codd stated that there has been no expression of remorse or attempt to pay back the money but acknowledged that Paget herself had “particular vulnerabilities”. She sentenced Paget to 18 months in prison and suspended the final six months on strict conditions.
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/psychic-medium-jailed-for-e10000-deception-1500039.html