Friend of DJ Carey explains why he accompanied him to court despite ‘defenceless’ crime

A man who accompanied DJ Carey to court for his fraud case has explained why he is still his friend.

Carey has been sentenced to five-and-a-half-years in prison for fraud.

The Kilkenny hurling legend defrauded 22 people after falsely claimed he had cancer.

At his hearing last Friday, the court heard how the outstanding sum for what was obtained by Carey was €349,927 and $13,000, including more than €125,000 from businessman Denis O’Brien.

Judge Martin Nolan had said a custodial sentence is “inevitable”, and said the victims may “feel foolish and taken advantage of” but insisted they were good people.

Carey’s friend, John Crowley, spoke to Virgin Media outside of the court on Monday to explain what the people of Kilkenny were feeling towards him, and explained why he remains his friend despite the ‘defenceless’ crime.

“A lot of people are very, very angry,” said Crowley. “And they’re entitled to be angry

“I’m not here to defend DJ Carey, because you can’t defend the defenceless. How can you defend him? But he’s a friend of mine, was a friend of mine, and still is a friend of mine.

“He has sinned, he is a sinner. We learned when I was young about forgiveness. I’m a catholic, I don’t really practice it much, but I live strong catholic values.

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“A lot of those people are very, very angry, I suppose some of them are very mad, very angry, very bitter with him, but a lot of people feel a lot of sympathy for him, they remain quiet, not like me, I have a big mouth, I always talk! But I don’t mind, I just talk what I see.

“They still have a lot of respect for him, because we are probably addicted to hurling, we love our hurling, and that’s it.

“On the sporting field, they have huge admiration for DJ Carey, of course that is tarnished now forever more. But he’ll still be my friend.”

Five-time All-Ireland champion Carey is regarded as one of the most successful and celebrated players in hurling history.

He was honoured as Hurler of the Year in 2000 and earned nine All-Star awards over the course of his career.