A leading solicitor has been found guilty of stealing €400 from a client he was representing in court eight years ago. Cahir O’Higgins, described as one of the country’s highest earning criminal legal aid solicitors by RTÉ, was also convicted of four counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Mr O’Higgins (49) is a criminal defence solicitor who has worked in field of criminal law for more than 20 years. After his conviction today, reporting restrictions were lifted on his conviction ion another case where the court found he engaged in a prolonged campaign of harassment against a former employee, Stephen O’Mahony, who left O’Higgins’ firm to set up his own practice.
That harassment culminated in Mr O’Higgins assaulting Mr O’Mahony and breaking the man’s nose. He was convicted and sentenced to 16 months in jail by Judge Kenneth Connolly on 22 July this year for that assault.
In regard to the theft charge , the court was told that Mr O’Higgins was representing Raul Sanz Quilis, a Spanish national, who had indicated that he wished to plead guilty to a charge of criminal damage before the District Court on 30 July 2016.
When the judge said the case would be struck out if a payment of €200 was made, Mr O’Higgins told Mr Sanz Quilis that he could use the Spaniard’s bank card to withdraw the money. However the solicitor then withdrew €600 in total from the ATM and kept €400.
When Mr Sanz Quilis subsequently discovered the money was missing from his bank account, he contacted gardaí.
Mr O’Higgins insisted that he had withdrawn €600 in case the judge changed the order and sought a higher amount in compensation or as a donation to charity and said he had returned €400 to Mr Sanz Quilis with his charge sheets in an envelope after the case was struck out.
However, the jury today however found him guilty of all five charges, one of theft and four of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The solicitor was remanded in custody by Judge Martin Nolan for sentencing later this month.
“During his years as a successful criminal law solicitor O’Higgins invested in a number of residential properties in Dublin. In more recent years he has appeared to struggle with his practice and with mental health issues, according to lawyers who know him,” the Irish Times reported.
Higgins had set up his own practice, Cahir O’Higgins & Co, in 2005, and in a Facebook post in September said he had “founded and run the largest criminal defence law firm in Ireland (at one point).”