Longford judge jails mother of one who made false €60,000 personal injuries claim

A mother of one who falsely brought a €60,000 personal injuries claim before the Circuit Court and claimed she was a back seat passenger in a car involved in a two-car collision has been sentenced to 15-months in prison.

Kristina Mieliauskaite (35) formerly of 34 Oliver Plunkett Street, Mullingar, Co Westmeath but now living in England, pleaded guilty at Longford Circuit Court to the offence on July 16,2020.

Two other co-accused, Janis Bukks (34) of 1 Mostrim Oaks, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford and Diana Jakubovskaja (36) of Apartment 6, Cúirt An Óir, Athlone Road also appeared.

The three defendants were charged with making false statements and attempting to make gain or cause loss to another by deception.

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Gda Denise Dockery, who gave evidence, explained that Janis Bukks was driving a black Volkswagen Passat at a location in the State on April 10, 2018 when he rear-ended a blue Volkswagen Golf being driven by Ms Jakubovskaja.

She told officers she had slowed down to allow a car travelling in front of her to turn off the road.

Gardaí attended the scene and were satisfied it was a genuine collision.

Gda Dockery established Mr Bukks was insured with Liberty Insurance and he had a full licence and he stated he had been moving house from Drumlish to Longford on the day in question.

There were two personal injury claims made through Mr Bukks' insurance company Liberty Insurance.

The first was made by Ms Jakubovskaja for damages done to her car and personal injuries while the second was made by Kristina Mieliauskaite.

Gda Dockery said when she arrived at the scene both drivers were speaking to each other in a foreign language but they stated they had not known each other prior to the incident.

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The officer said there was no backseat passenger in the Golf and Ms Jakubovskaja also stated she had been the only occupant in her vehicle.

Ms Mieliauskaite claimed in a written submission to Liberty Insurance that she had left the scene before the Gardaí arrived due to a family issue, but officers found no evidence she was there,

Gda Dockery outlined in court that there were Circuit Court claims in excess of €60,000 before the company discovered the link.

The insurance company did their own investigation and used a UK-based private investigation firm who trawled the internet and discovered the trio had all been known to each other on social media for several years.

Several documents were supplied to Liberty Insurance, which listed Mr Bukks as a named driver on Ms Jakubovskaja's insurance policy.

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Gda Dockery explained that all three defendants were cooperative at all stages of the investigation.

The amount spent by Liberty Insurance investigating the matter and on the claims process was an estimated €25,979 and €3,879.69 of that sum was legitimately paid to Ms Jakubovskaja for damages to her vehicle.

Mr Bukks and Ms Jakubovskaja, who also pleaded guilty, had no previous convictions.

However, Ms Mieliauskaite had five previous convictions, which includes receiving a three year prison sentence, which was suspended for five years in 2011 for unlawfully importing drugs valued at €13,000 for sale or supply.

Defence Barrister, John Shortt stated his client, a Lithuanian national, had been given a deportation order to leave Ireland for five years following the drugs offence and she complied with that and left the jurisdiction with her daughter.

"This is a person who has undoubtedly made mistakes in the past and she got involved in a serious escapade of criminality" he said. "But it does appear since then she has taken the opportunity to work hard and be a devoted parent and she has not come to any adverse attention either here or in the UK."

"This is a lady who was given the benefit of suspended sentences in the past, but demonstrated that she would wilfully offend again despite knowing the consequences of that offending and knowing the chances she had been given in the past."

Judge Connolly also insisted there were obvious opportunities in this situation "to stand back from the scheme or put her hands up and say I was not in the car, this is a false claim and I want to withdraw from it," he added.

Judge Connolly described the investigation into Ms Mieliauskaite as being successful in terms of getting the facts.

"It was somewhat like musical chairs wherein this lady had been described variably as having been a back seat passenger by the driver of the Golf vehicle that was rear-ended and then thereafter she was also described as a front seat passenger in the vehicle it seems a detection was made," he said. "There were also discrepancies in an email address that related to two of the defendants when they had maintained they did know each other."

Judge Connolly described it as "quite an elaborate tale of medical treatment" that came from a non-event and the lengthy itemised list of expenses that came to a total of €60,000 in damages.

"There is a level of barefaced premeditation, and seeking up to €60,000 in the Circuit Court is a level of gall that is fortunately rarely seen before this court," he added.

Judge Connolly stated that despite the late guilty plea it was welcome and it had saved the court considerable time.

He sentenced Ms Mieliauskaite to two years in prsion, however, he suspended the final nine months.

He stressed Ms Jakubovskaja was somewhat less culpable as she was genuinely in an accident and she would have been entitled to money before she participated in the dishonest scheme and attempt to enable her friend to benefit.

Judge Connolly sentenced Ms Jakubovskaja to two years in prison but suspended the entire sentence for a period of five years.

She brought €3,000 to court to compensate Liberty Insurance which was accepted by the court and she was also directed to hand over an additional €2,000 within 12 months.

Mr Bukks’ case was subsequently adjourned to the January sittings of Longford Circuit Court and he was remanded on bail.