Man before court accused of deceiving woman out of €17,000
The case was heard before Judge Bernadette Owens at Athlone District Court.
A man charged with allegedly deceiving a woman out of €17,000, which she believed was to help him fund his business in Malawi, has been told to take his case to the High Court if he’s “not satisfied with his bail terms”.
Bright Banda (39), formerly of Meadow Lane, Roscommon Road, Athlone, County Roscommon, was previously remanded in custody with consent to bail subject to an independent surety of €10,000 as well as his own bond of €5,000.
When he appeared again before Judge Bernadette Owens at Athlone District Court, his solicitor, Dara Hayden, requested a variation of bail conditions as his client was “still in custody” almost a month on.
Judge Owens said he can take his case to the High Court if he is not happy with the bail conditions currently in place. Mr Banda is facing four counts of theft by dishonesty.
The court previously heard how, on February 13th, 2023, it was alleged that Mr Banda dishonestly by deception induced a woman to transfer €1,000 to his account in the belief she was giving him money to buy a white Volkswagen Polo car.
Two identical charges of €1,000 transfers arose on February 17th and March 31st, 2023, with the woman again believing she was transferring the money to help the accused purchase a car.
A further charge on March 31st, 2023 at Athlone Credit Union, alleges that Mr Banda induced the same woman to transfer €14,000 from her credit union account to his AIB account, with the reference “car balance”, and made her believe it was for his truck business in Malawi and that she would be repaid.
Judge Owens granted Mr Banda bail on January 14th, “but with strict conditions”. Those conditions included an own bond of €5,000 with Mr Banda ordered to lodge €2,500 of that. An independent surety of €10,000 was also directed, to be approved by gardaí. €5,000 of that will need to be lodged before Mr Banda is released.
Sergeant Sheila Kenny informed the court that the state had not yet received directions on the charges before the court and requested a further adjournment of four weeks.
Mr Banda consented to having his case put back another month and was remanded in custody with consent to bail to March 11th, 2026.
• Published under the Courts Reporting Scheme.
