She also posed as an au pair in Kildare and accused a Celbridge family of owing her thousands of euros in unpaid wages. She used multiple fake personas to deceive people.
A serial fraudster who falsely claimed she was terminally ill to receive more than €60,000 in welfare payments has been sentenced to four years in prison, with the final 12 months suspended.
Samantha Cookes (36) posed as an au pair in Kildare and accused a Celbridge family of owing her thousands of euros in unpaid wages.
She used multiple fake personas to deceive people.
She has pleaded guilty to 18 counts of deception and theft after fraudulently obtaining supplementary welfare and disability payments from the Department of Social Protection over a four-year period.
Cookes, who falsely claimed she had Huntington’s Disease, manipulated public sympathy to carry out her scheme.
Sentencing her at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee, Co Kerry, Judge Ronan Munro condemned her actions, stating that Cookes had taken advantage of the natural sympathy afforded to those suffering from serious illnesses.
He described her actions as a cynical exploitation of goodwill.
He said he suspended the final year so Cookes could get treatment when she is released from prison.
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