Cahir O’Higgins sentenced to 27 months for theft and attempting to pervert justice

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Solicitor Cahir O’Higgins was sentenced to 27 months in prison at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 25 November 2024 for stealing €400 from a client and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Judge Martin Nolan backdated the sentence to 21 October 2024 and ordered it to run concurrently with a sentence O’Higgins was already serving for assault.

The Irish Times reported that the new sentence would keep him in prison until April 2026, an extra six months, assuming good behaviour.

O’Higgins had pleaded not guilty to the theft and four counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. A jury found him guilty of all five charges on 15 November 2024.

The theft took place on 30 July 2016, when O’Higgins stood in for a colleague representing Raul Sanz Quilis in Dublin District Court. The judge said the criminal damage case against Mr Sanz Quilis would be struck out if €200 was paid. O’Higgins volunteered to withdraw the money, took €600 from an ATM and put €400 in his pocket. The €200 was paid and the case was struck out.

O’Higgins told gardaí he withdrew the extra money in case the judge ordered further payment and maintained that he returned €400 to Mr Sanz Quilis. He initially said his client had consented to the withdrawal; he later accepted he had not sought consent but believed it could be inferred. He also admitted that notes he had presented as contemporaneous were written later and contained untruths.

At sentencing, defence counsel Michael O’Higgins acknowledged that his client was an officer of the court and had represented someone far from home. He asked the court to consider reports, references and his client’s personal circumstances. After sentence was passed, Cahir O’Higgins apologised to everyone affected.