Catherine O'Brien trail leads to Slovakia
Catherine O'Brien Pictured. Picture: The Irish Mail on Sunday
New leads have opened up in Eastern Europe in the search for a Buttevant woman wanted for questioning by Gardaí on fraud allegations.
A horse linked to Catherine O'Brien placed last in a race in Bratislava on April 22, while three other horses connected to her are currently based in a Slovakian training yard.
It is understood she has been using the alias Katie O'Brien in her dealings with trainers in Slovakia.
Listen to Episode 1 on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
O'Brien, who has been convicted of animal welfare breaches, is the subject of a bench warrant in connection with that conviction and is also being sought in relation to alleged frauds amounting to millions of euro.
While she herself is not thought to be living in Slovakia, the horses in question have been relocated there since 2021. One of the horses, Shakespurr, placed last in a race in Bratislava on April 22.
While the cannot establish the ownership of the horses, an ongoing investigation by this newspaper has confirmed her involvement with the animals.
Gardaí believe the Buttevant native, who has an address in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, has gone abroad after spending a number of months in Northern Ireland. However, sources in Eastern Europe do not believe she is in Slovakia.
A woman calling herself Katie O’Brien has enlisted the services of trainers and agents by phone — including from a phone number known to have been used by Catherine O’Brien in Ireland.
The first horses arrived in Slovakia in late 2021 after contact was made with a trainer she later hired, Josef Chodur. Shakespurr arrived a year ago and first raced last October, coming in third in field of nine and winning €250. The four-year-old came in last in a race on April 22, also in a field of nine.
She has engaged a new trainer, Jaroslav Brecka, in recent months.
The name of the breeder on the racing card for the April 22 event was that of an operation set up in Ireland with which O’Brien was known to be involved.
Slovakia hosts 20 horse racing meetings per year, and prize funds are usually small, although one feature race in Bratislava next Sunday has a €19,000 winner's prize.
Costs such as trainer fees, meanwhile, can be as little as €400 per month.
O’Brien has taken judicial review proceedings against the Director of Public Prosecutions arising out of her conviction in absentia of more than 30 counts of animal welfare breaches.
The warrant was issued for her arrest at Gorey District Court in June 2021, following her conviction on 34 counts of animal cruelty under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. This related to the seizure of thoroughbred horses in a malnourished state in Ballygarrett in Wexford in 2019.
The judge opted not to sentence her in her absence when the case was in court in June 2021, and the bench warrant remains live.
She was convicted under Section 12(1) of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. Under the act, there are penalties of up to €250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.
A convicted person can also be the subject of an order disqualifying them from “owning, having any interest in, keeping, dealing in, or having charge or control, directly or indirectly, of an animal”.
Ms O’Brien initiated legal proceedings in July 2021, and that case is now scheduled to be heard in July.
Some 25 of the horses remain in the care of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust.
In February 2022, the High Court ruled that a 151-registered Land Rover Discovery could be seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau after bureau officers alleged that Catherine O’Brien had bought it through the proceeds of criminal frauds.
She appealed the decision by Mr Justice Alexander Owens, and it was listed for directions in the Court of Appeal in Dublin on June 24. However, a spokesman for the Courts Service said the appeal never went in for hearing. Instead, it was struck out, subject to an ‘unless order’, on July 15.
