Cahir O’Higgins: Top solicitor guilty of stealing €400 from defendant as reporting restrictions on harassment of ex-employee also lifted

The conviction of Cahir O'Higgins (49) also means that reporting restrictions have been lifted on a separate case in which O'Higgins was found guilty of the prolonged harassment and assault of a former colleague, whose nose he broke.

O'Higgins (49) had pleaded not guilty to one count of the theft of €400 in July 2016 and four counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in December 2017 by providing notes to gardaí which he knew contained incorrect information.

O'Higgins, of Cahir O'Higgins and Company, Kingsbride House, Parkgate Street, Dublin, denied the allegations against him. The court has heard that O'Higgins is a criminal defence solicitor with over 20 years' experience.

On Friday, the jury returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on all five counts after just under five hours of deliberations.

O'Higgins made no reaction as the verdicts were delivered.

Judge Martin Nolan thanked the jury for their attention and work during the case.

Remanding O'Higgins in custody, Judge Nolan adjourned the case to November 25 next for sentence.

The trial of O'Higgins on allegations of theft and perversion of the course of justice heard evidence relating to a district court sitting on July 30, 2016.

Spanish national Raul Sanz Quilis was before Dublin District Court having admitted criminal damage in relation to a fire in a toilet cubicle in Dicey's Bar.

Judge John Coughlan indicated that if Mr Sanz Quilis paid €200 to the Court Poor Box, the case would be struck out.

The judge made his decision after hearing evidence of arrest, charge and caution from Garda Tao Yu and that the accused man, who was in custody, was pleading guilty.

No representative from the solicitors assigned to Mr Sanz Quilis under the legal aid scheme was present in court. Instead, arrangements were made for O'Higgins to stand in and represent him.

Gardaí obtained Mr Sanz Quilis's bank card and PIN, then gave them to O'Higgins, who had volunteered to go to an ATM.

O'Higgins went to the Londis on Parkgate Street where CCTV showed him withdraw cash, then place it in a piece of paper.

O'Higgins made two further withdrawals and put these into his trousers pocket, before making a further attempt to use the ATM.

Evidence was heard that three cash withdrawals totalling €600 were made from Mr Sanz Quilis's bank account.

When O'Higgins returned to court, €200 was paid and the case struck out, meaning Mr Sanz Quilis was left without a conviction.

Giving evidence via videolink, Mr Sanz Quilis said he only consented to money being withdrawn to pay the €200 fine.

After his release from custody, he saw O'Higgins, who told him he "took money out for his services". Mr Sanz Quilis said he was more focused on leaving.

He later clarified that the solicitor referred to a "quantity" of money, but he didn't understand due to his limited English.

Mr Sanz Quilis insisted O'Higgins didn't give him back any money.

He rejected the defence's suggestion that he deliberately started the fire, insisting it wasn't intentional.

He also denied that O'Higgins handed him money after his release, which he then could have spent or lost.

Mr Sanz Quilis accepted it was possible O'Higgins told him he'd taken extra money out and he'd replied he didn't want it as he wanted to leave.

He denied the defence's contention that he didn't want to return to Ireland because of his poor recollection and as he knew he'd been lucky to avoid a conviction.

Mr Sanz Quilis said he was afraid of the "lawyer" and "that he would do something against me".

O'Higgins said he attended district court that day "as a favour" to another solicitor and spoke to Mr Sanz Quilis beforehand.

As his view was that the judge may order compensation, O'Higgins said he got permission to use Mr Sanz Quilis's bank card and consent to withdraw €600.

O'Higgins said he handed an envelope containing €400 and the charge sheets to Mr Sanz Quilis after the case was struck out. He finished writing up his notes that evening and later dropped copies into the office of the assigned solicitors.

Later in the interview, O'Higgins admitted he became aware of a complaint by the Spanish Embassy and said he wrote the notes around October 2016 "in anticipation of s**t hitting the fan with the Law Society".

He said his main concern was a potential Law Society investigation. Later, he told gardai it was a "grave error of judgement" to provide them with "bulls**t notes".

O'Higgins said he only spoke to Mr Sanz Quilis once and had limited memory of this.

He said he withdrew €600 so on the basis of "implied permission", but had no consent to do this.

He said he had 20 years experience "without an allegation of dishonesty" and wouldn't risk his practice for €400.

O'Higgins provided a prepared statement when interviewed voluntarily for a second time on March 20, 2018.

In this statement, said he was "alarmed" after speaking to a garda involved on the day and deemed it "appropriate and responsible" to plan in case Judge Coughlan directed additional compensation.

O'Higgins said he "hoped" Judge Coughlan would "settle on" €200 but he had €400 "as contingency". He said he hadn't sought consent but "inferred" it in the circumstances.

He said he gave the money back in an envelope.

O'Higgins suggested a "misunderstanding" may have occurred or that Mr Sanz Quilis "didn't realise" the money was returned to him.

Closing the prosecution's case, Eoin Lawlor SC suggested Mr Sanz Quilis was "uniquely vulnerable" to this theft, due to his prior intoxication, poor English, and as he'd "got off lightly".

He submitted Mr Sanz Quilis was clear and credible in his evidence.

He suggested that the defendant's comments during the recording that people were "out to get him" were "nonsense".

He told the jury that the perverting the course of justice charges arise from O'Higgins's actions after he became aware of the theft allegation.

Mr Lawlor suggested O'Higgins "lied" in and about these notes, which were intended as a defence against a theft allegation.

In his speech, senior defence counsel Michael O'Higgins said his client's state of mind when he withdrew the money was important to consider.

Counsel suggested Mr Sanz Quilis lied to gardaí about how the fire started and "stubbornly persisted in that lie" in his evidence.

Counsel asked jurors if it's possible the money was returned, but Mr Sanz Quilis "didn't appreciate" he got it back.

Defence counsel acknowledged his client told "lies to protect his interests", but said the reality is that "everyone tells lies".

He asked if a successful person would "throw it all up for €400".

Defence counsel suggested that the "lies" in his client's notes don't relate to the theft allegation, but were to anticipate possible regulatory queries.

He submitted it is a "leap" to say these notes were intended to pervert the course of justice.

Counsel suggested that "it's not possible to be satisfied beyond doubt what happened here" and the "correct verdict is not guilty".

Earlier harassment and assault conviction Cahir O'Higgins engaged in a prolonged campaign of harassment against a former employee who left his firm to set up his own practice, culminating in O'Higgins breaking the man's nose, it can now be reported.

O'Higgin's actions were variously referred to by the sentencing judge as "deranged", "thuggish", "base" and "despicable".

Earlier this year, O'Higgins pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm to fellow solicitor Stephen O'Mahony and to one count of harassing him over a period of time between June 25, 2020 and February 11, 2021.

Two further counts of simple assault of Mr O'Mahony at the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) in Parkgate Street, Dublin 7 on dates in December 2020 and January 2021 were taken into consideration.

O'Higgins, of Cahir O'Higgins and Company, Kingsbridge House, Parkgate Street, Dublin, had no previous convictions at the time but has since gained a public order conviction in relation to a cycle rage incident involving two plainclothes gardaí.

He was sentenced to 16 months in jail by Judge Kenneth Connolly on July 22 this year for the harassment and assault charges, but this sentence was deferred to the end of September to allow O'Higgins to settle his affairs and shut down his solicitor practice – referred to in court as previously the most successful criminal practice in the country.

Reporting restrictions meant this case could not be reported on until after O'Higgins' theft and perverting the course of justice trial came to an end, to avoid prejudicing the jury. He was found guilty of theft and perverting the course of justice charges on Friday.

In extraordinary scenes in court after the sentence was handed down, O'Higgins asked to address the court and spoke from the dock for several minutes – partly to express regret at his offending, but also to reiterate a defence application seeking leave to allow him to fly to Spain for a week at the end of July and also compete in the World Cycling Championships in Denmark in September before he went to prison.

"I think I owe the sport of cycling a proper goodbye," O'Higgins told the court. "I should wear the Irish colours with pride."

The application was opposed by Eoin Lawlor SC for the prosecution, but O'Higgins was granted leave to travel by Judge Connolly.

The decision came in the wake of a scathing sentence delivered by Judge Connolly, in which he described the various aspects of O'Higgins' behaviour as "deranged", "thuggish", "base" and "despicable".

"The harassment arose from an irrational obsession deriving from the fact the two parties were in competition for the same work," the judge said, noting that this is a "natural element" of solicitor work that occurs "every day of the week in this building".

"He chose to bully Mr O'Mahony out of the space he was occupying on a professional basis," Judge Connolly said. "Mr O'Higgins believed he was the law, as opposed to being amenable to the law.

"I can assure him: he is amenable to the law."

He handed down a 32-month sentence and suspended the final 16 months on a number of conditions, including that O'Higgins have no contact with Mr O'Mahony or his wife and family.

In September this year, O'Higgins announced on social media that he was closing his practice "due to a variety of circumstances". He said he had always intended to retire by the age of 50. "I'm glad one way or another that gift and opportunity has been given to me," he wrote.

He went into custody in September, ahead of his October trial.

At a sentence hearing into this matter in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last June, the court heard O'Higgins repeatedly accused Mr O'Mahony of poaching his clients, sent him numerous threatening emails and texts and was caught on video telling Mr O'Mahony: "I will f**king get you."

O'Higgins also engaged in intimidatory behaviour within the environs of the CCJ, stepping on Mr O'Mahony's foot in court, elbowing him in the lobby and pushing him when they were both outside the building trying to engage with the same client, the court heard.

O'Higgins texted Mr O'Mahony's wife shortly after she had given birth telling her he would sue her husband until he owned their house and he lied to Mr O'Mahony telling him he (Mr O'Mahony) had been exposed to Covid and would have to isolate for 14 days, the court heard.

The harassment culminated in an assault in February 2021, during which O'Higgins pushed Mr O'Mahony against a parked car and punched him in the face a short time later, breaking his nose. Part of this incident was captured on CCTV footage, while Mr O'Mahony also captured some incidents on his mobile phone.

In a lengthy victim impact statement, Mr O'Mahony outlined the effects O'Higgins' offending had both on his personal life and his professional one.

During the sentence hearing which took place last June, Detective Garda Colm Kelly told Ronan Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that in April 2020, shortly after O'Higgins was charged with theft and perverting the course of justice offences, Mr O'Mahony resigned from his position in Cahir O'Higgins Solicitors, where he had worked for 11 years.

Relations between the two men were initially amicable, but when Mr O'Mahony started the process of setting up his own solicitor practice in June 2020, the relationship "soured" and O'Higgins started making "repeated unwanted contact" with Mr O'Mahony, the court heard.

O'Higgins accused Mr O'Mahony of breaking into his office and stealing his contract, of behaving unethically by poaching his clients and of making disparaging comments about O'Higgins. He threatened to sue Mr O'Mahony and report him to gardaí and the Law Society, but no complaint was ever made. Mr O'Mahony strongly denied these claims.

Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, said his client grew up in the 1960s, the son of two TDs which was "quite an extraordinary event" at the time. He attended boarding school and excelled academically, the court heard.

He went on to set up one of the most successful criminal law firms in the country, but he suffered with acute depression, stress and burnout. At the time of this offending, he had suffered the loss of his sister, his marriage had broken down, he was struggling with mental health issues and his legal practice was "haemorrhaging", the court heard.

O'Higgins' reputation has been damaged, "perhaps beyond repair" and he is now worried about how he will provide for his children, defence counsel said.