A COUNTY Tyrone building company director has been jailed for six months after she was found guilty of forging the signature of an employee on a prosecution notice on two counts of speeding.
Mother-of-four Katherine McGuigan (50) from Garvagh Road in Dungannon was found guilty of forging the signature of Monica Lambe on the notice between May 22 and June 13 2013.
The defendant, who had several glowing references in court and had a previous clear record, was also found guilty of an identical offence on dates between June 13 and June 29 that year.
The court heard she carried out her actions on the instructions of her husband who was allegedly caught for speeding and was in danger of losing his licence, and she tried to get her employee Monica Lambe to agree to allow her signature to be used on the notice.
In jailing McGuigan for a six months concurrent jail sentence on each offence, Judge Melody McReynolds said that aggravating factors were bullying of the injured party into swearing an untrue affidavit in “attempt to impugn her own integrity to back up your lies.”
The judge also noted the duration of the deception from June 2013 to the defendant’s trial last month.
Judge McReynolds also remarked on the fact that Mrs Lambe was cross-examined and it was repeatedly suggested she was wrong.
“When untruthful suggestions are made against an honest person he or she is likely to struggle to avoid feeling that mud sticks even dishonest mud”.
The judge said Mrs Lambe had lost her job at an age when she would find it difficult to find a new one and her own confidence after being questioned in a police station will have been damaged.
The judge said that only for some clear forensic evidence the injured party might have found herself in a very difficult position.
She added that if the defendant had made an early admission, even after her meeting with the injured party in a coffee shop, the matter might have been brought to the other side of the threshold for immediate custody.
Defence Counsel Jim Gallagher said his client had deep family responsibilities and was the mainstay of the McGuingan Construction family business that employed 20 people, and her absence would have a big impact on the business in difficult economic times.
