At Derry Magistrate’s Court on Friday, a man who had committed the “despicable and shameful” offence of using a GoFundMe page to pretend to have cancer was sentenced to 18 months of probation, 100 hours of community service, and restitution, reports The Irish Times.
29-yr-old Stephen Patrick Doherty of Lisnafin Park in Strabane admitted to committing one count of fraud by false representation on January 7, 2022, until June 20, 2023.
According to what was said in court, Doherty turned himself in to the police and admitted to them that he had faked three separate cancer diagnoses.
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He added that a friend “acting in good faith” had created a GoFundMe page on his behalf, and the friend had raised £3,280, which he had used to buy a puppy and pay for his trip to Liverpool games, reports The Irish Times.
Doherty said police he was coming forward because he didn’t want the woman who set up the page to be held accountable for anything and since the neighbourhood had found out he wasn’t sick.
The lady who created the page, according to the court, felt she had been “taken advantage of” and was “really upset.” She didn’t communicate with the accused.
Doherty “knew he didn’t have cancer when the page was set up,” according to a prosecutor’s spokeswoman, reports The Irish Times.
Although it was difficult to find the correct phrase to describe the conduct, defence attorney Stephen Mooney insisted that there was no doubt that it was significant enough that “there could be an immediate custodial sentence.”
He added that Doherty had handed himself in as an act of self-apology for his crimes, reports The Irish Times.
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