Twist in the tale for soup kitchen operator

The operator of a former soup kitchen in the city was convicted in Galway District Court on Monday on four counts of holding collections without the proper permit.

In imposing the Probation Act on the five collectors who were also summoned, Judge Mary Fahy criticised the operator for sending vulnerable people out on the streets armed with bogus documents.

“It is very suspect that they were out collecting for a charity, when they themselves are requiring help,” she said.

Oliver Williams (47), with an address at Ballyboggan, Athenry, denied holding an unauthorised collection at both William Street and Corbettcourt on September 29 last year, at Liosban, Tuam Road, on September 17, and at Eyre Square on November 26 last year.

Four separate Gardaí gave evidence of stopping five volunteers who were collecting for Twist Soup Kitchen on the various dates. They were all wearing luminous bibs, had laminated id cards around their necks and, when asked for permits they produced a document which was signed by Williams and purported to be authority to collect. Gardaí seized over €600 cash.

The court heard, however, that Twist was not a registered charity, and was not permitted to collect money in public. Williams claimed that he thought he was exempt from needing a permit as the volunteers were selling pens, rather than asking for money.

The Garda evidence contradicted this, however – they said that the volunteers were shaking their buckets seeking donations – and Williams acknowledged during the hearing that he had been mistaken in this respect, and that the exemption only applied to registered charities.

Sgt Brendan Moore told the court that he was of the belief that the five volunteers knew their actions were not ‘kosher’ and that they were in possession of “bogus collection authorisation issued by Mr Williams.”

“There was a ‘cat and mouse’ scenario, they had been fleeing from us – this had been going on for a month at that stage (September 27),” he said.

On a subsequent occasion, Garda Micheal Murphy told the court that he was on mobile patrol in a marked car on the afternoon of January 5 2013 when he caught sight of another volunteer in a high-vis jacket who was collecting for the soup kitchen. When the collector saw the Garda car, however, he ran back towards Twist Café on Queen Street. The Garda said that when he drove the car around the one-way street to the location of the café, the man was gone.

He returned to Galway Garda Station, changed into plain clothes, and returned to the Queen Street/Forthill junction where he observed the same man collecting for Twist.

Garda Murphy said that passing motorists were putting money in a bucket and receiving nothing in return. Again, the volunteer had no permit to collect.

Garda Paul Gahan told the court that he approached Olivier Williams, in relation to these unauthorised collections, on September 17 last year, and he was subsequently summoned for holding unauthorised collections. Nine days later, the same Garda saw a Twist volunteer collecting money in Liosban.

Sgt Moore met with Williams on October 10 outside Twist, and the court heard that Williams said that Gardaí were picking on him.

“I said that he had to comply like every other charity,” Sgt Moore said.

“He said that he had applied for status, but that it hadn’t been advanced. I looked into it and it was because he couldn’t produce a tax clearance certificate.”

Sgt Moore said that Williams asked for a meeting with the Superintendent, Marie Skehill, but before Sgt Moore had even returned to Galway Garda Station that day, Williams had already been in contact with the Superintendent.

At the subsequent meeting, at which Sgt Moore took notes, Williams was advised that he could not avail of an exemption as Twist was not a registered charity.

“He was advised to desist from selling or collecting, or the Twist gear was liable to be seized – there were further detections after that,” Sgt Moore told the court.

He said that following this meeting, Twist volunteers were being sent out with the same bogus permits, but this time Sgt Moore’s name had been handwritten onto them.

“Collectors were handing these out when asked for authorisation,” he said.

When questioned about them, he said that volunteers pointed to his own name – not realising that he was the same person – on the document and said: “This man said it was okay.”

In court on Monday, Valerie Corcoran, solicitor for Williams, said that she had not been representing the defendant at the time but had since managed to convince her client that he was not exempt from needing a permit.

“He had to be told three times that he was wrong – and he was shocked (when he realised),” she said. “He genuinely thought he was doing things correctly.”

However, Judge Fahy was not convinced, and she said that the obtaining of a permit was the most basic requirement of any collections – something that even school children were aware of.

“The dates (for collections) are very closely monitored, and people have to apply months in advance for them. I cannot help but notice, and it is sad to say that several of these (collectors) are vulnerable people staying in hostels.

“It is very suspect what is going on, it is a cynical exercise to try to inform the court that they were doing it for charity, it is all very murky, and I don’t like the sound of it at all.”

The Probation Act was imposed in the case of the five collectors, while Williams was convicted on four counts of holding unauthorised collections, the maximum fine for which is €63.

The judge said that his actions were so disturbing that she had to mark a conviction on each of the four summonses before her, and the maximum fine, which amounted to €252, was imposed.

The State applied for the forfeiture of all items seized from collectors, including the money, which Judge Fahy suggested be given to Cope, which cares for the homeless in the city.