Couple who reversed into off-duty garda and made false claim avoid jail

A husband and wife from Watermint Court, Royal Canal Park, Ashtown, have received fully suspended sentences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to making false personal injury claims. The offences occurred between August 2019 and January 2020 following a motor collision on Griffith Avenue in May 2019. Rene Cifra reversed his vehicle into a Mercedes van driven by an off-duty garda and subsequently claimed to Liberty Insurance that both he and his wife, Olga Cifrova, had sustained injuries. The wife had not been present at the scene. Both accused visited a solicitor to file false claims and attended a medical practitioner in Cavan seeking documentation. Judge Karen O'Connor sentenced each to fifteen months imprisonment, suspended entirely on strict conditions. She described the fraud as unsophisticated yet aggravated by premeditated conduct and deliberate dishonesty. The judge noted their early guilty pleas, clear records, and commitment to their two children born in Ireland.