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00:01Hurling is an amateur game played by professionals.
00:06Their commitment is unreal.
00:08The pride in any parish to see their guy, our girl,
00:11lining out in the black and amber,
00:13that's why we flock to see him.
00:17Parts of the county have hurling there for 150 years.
00:21The game represents the values and the communities we play for.
00:25Other superstars at the time, we were super hurlers,
00:30but not the same.
00:32There was an electricity about when he got the ball.
00:35From a very young age, he was so speedy, he was so fast.
00:39The artful Dodger, his classmates were calling him.
00:43He was able to stay out of danger, you see.
00:46And he didn't need to play dirty.
00:50I have to say he was the best I ever saw, really.
00:53There was a huge excitement when he was in form,
00:56and he was definitely the star.
00:58DJ Kerry!
01:04DJ Kerry!
01:06Dennis Joseph Kerry.
01:09When the pressure was on, Kilkenny could rely on DJ.
01:12Probably like Georgie Best in his day.
01:15You knew that this was extraordinary,
01:20and you didn't have to be a big hurling fan
01:23to know that you were looking at an absolutely superb athlete.
01:27I can still picture him on the TV scoring the goals,
01:39going for the high ball.
01:40I can still see him.
01:41You know, and he was...
01:43He was...
01:44He was God.
01:45DJ is God.
01:46In God we trust.
01:47In DJ we believe.
01:52If he was a professional today,
01:53he'd be worth 50 million.
01:54The right team would be worth nothing.
01:56Nothing.
01:57He seemed to handle that stardom very well on the field.
02:00Stars who give us highs in life,
02:04every county has their own.
02:06In any of their counties,
02:07those people could shoot somebody in their county,
02:10and it wouldn't come up on their CV.
02:13Judge Martin Nolan sentenced him
02:15to a total of five and a half years in jail,
02:17saying he couldn't imagine
02:19a more reprehensible type of fraud.
02:23You really have to do fairly serious mental acrobatics
02:27to get your head around it at all.
02:29I wonder how unhappy a man would have to be
02:32to be hiding all that
02:35behind such a persona
02:38which was so pure and wholesome.
02:42DJ Kerry is accused
02:44of inducing 23 people to pay him money
02:47after he had fraudulently claimed to have cancer.
02:50There are very good people in Kilkenny.
02:52They'll have tears in their eyes
02:54as they talk about his hurling
02:56and what has happened
02:57and they cannot believe it.
02:58There are others that are absolutely torn by this.
03:02They don't want to talk about
03:03the fraud part of this story.
03:05He is the ultimate hitman
03:07and we mean that in the nicest possible way.
03:10DJ Kerry.
03:12Kilkenny loved DJ.
03:13Why would they not?
03:15We're all responsible
03:16for the consequences of our actions.
03:19He was absolutely a master connor.
03:22Cheers.
03:23But to this day,
03:24if I met him out in the street,
03:25if he wanted to talk to me,
03:27I would sit down and have a coffee with him.
03:29If he wanted to talk to me,
03:30I would sit down and have a coffee with him.
03:31If I met him,
03:32I would sit down and have a coffee with him.
03:33If I met him,
03:34I would sit down and have a coffee with him.
03:35It's the most extraordinary story.
03:36It's the most extraordinary story and while for a long time I didn't allow myself to have an opinion on it,
04:02I just try to look at the evidence in front of me, read the text messages, talk to people, try and figure out what was going on but now that I have come to the end of the road in terms of the investigation or exhausting a lot of avenues, I would say it looks like it's textbook criminality, it looks like it's a story of betrayal.
04:33It's the story of a man who was loved by so many people and ultimately he betrayed their love and their trust in him because he went back to those very same people and he took money from them.
04:45And the thing is, I think a lot of them would have given him the money but he took it on the basis that he had cancer.
04:52Hi there, it's Imer Nivrenawn here. I'm just checking in. I'm just wondering if you had a chance to think about our last conversation.
05:05Obviously I'm traipsing around the country trying to get people to talk to me about what is going on at the moment.
05:12There were times when DJ got into some details about his personal life so he addressed this issue or the rumour about cancer with journalists.
05:22Dennis Walsh reports that these whispers were persecuting Kerry, that there was an epidemic of rumours, so many so sinister, so false.
05:32A couple of years ago he reports a story swept the southern half of the country that he was dying of cancer.
05:39He knows how it started. Suffering from stomach pains, he was sent to a hospital in Waterford for tests.
05:46The tests took place in the same area of the hospital that housed the oncology facilities.
05:51Sitting there he was seen and from such a sighting his cancer was born.
05:56So clearly in the interview DJ dismissed any suggestion that he was suffering from cancer.
06:02But it begs the question, is this where DJ first got the idea about the cancer?
06:12Well, Bernie, how are you? How's it going?
06:17Thanks a million. You're very good to tell me about the celebrations that are coming up because I wondered about that.
06:23Because that 2000 team, that was obviously a big year for DJ.
06:29He'd have to be invited to that celebration then, on All-Ireland Day.
06:34Will they name him out? Will he get a standing ovation?
06:38Yes. You'll see what happens at half-time, yeah.
06:45A full forward was DJ Kerry from New Maryland.
06:48He scored one forward of the day, saving his total number five in total.
06:53And you'll definitely hear his name is from Maniforstner Awards. DJ is not with us today.
06:58Go, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will.
07:06We actually met a couple of people from his hometown in the last week.
07:10I think my impression, compared to a number of years ago, where people were almost defending him.
07:17And, you know, he was very revered. And it was a completely different viewpoint at this time.
07:23It's hard though as well, Ger. I know like Mag is saying about the feeling has changed, which is interesting from some people in Kilkenny.
07:30Because at the start, there was a lot of disbelief. But is it, you're in a different circle in a way to Mag, because you are very steeped in the GA.
07:39Is it a difficult position for you to be in?
07:41It's easy to say, oh, I'm angry. I'm, you know, disappointed. I'm, but like, it's, it's a total, you know, it's like a concoction of feelings really.
07:50And I think, you know, the general public really are probably in a similar position.
07:56You know, look, now, sitting back, I wasn't able to, to see beyond my decency or our decency.
08:05I mean, you played on your vulnerability, which, you know, is really, it is unforgivable really.
08:11I do know a person who rang me, who talked about, he had given some money to about, I think about 5,000.
08:16And he, he said if his wife found out, she would divorce him.
08:20So he was busy doing all the hours God gave to try and replenish that fund.
08:25Because she, she didn't know, and she would never know, and he would never talk about it.
08:29And it was people like that. That was probably the day I decided, hang on here now.
08:34I just need to talk about this.
08:39How many people do you know personally gave DJ Kerry money?
08:43DJ Kerry money.
08:50I'd say about 10.
08:52About 10.
08:54For sure.
09:00I regard myself as being a very lucky person in terms of everything, despite having cancer.
09:06When Gerard came home one day and said, listen, I've got a phone call, a very strange request from DJ Kerry, he's looking for 5,000.
09:13And he basically said, he's got your cancer. And I said, you're choking me. That's gas, you know.
09:21Kenny Hurling circles, it's a small place and, you know, you're at matches, you knew him, you know, maybe to say hello to him, maybe a few words, but like, it was, it was nothing.
09:30In passing, he mentioned that a space had come available at short notice in this centre where he gets his stem cells.
09:39And he had a shortfall of monies and he needed, he needed money to get there and get his treatment and that he would repay the money upon, you know, when his insurance kicked in.
09:49Gerard just talked about that hospital in Seattle when he was in America getting treatment, blah, blah, blah. And I remember kind of taking it in, but not really.
10:00I said, if he needs the money, that's fine. I was a bit surprised. I knew his business had been in difficulty. He wasn't well, so maybe he wasn't working.
10:09You know, I believed Gerard's story. And I said, I remember saying to Gerard, we have to presume we're never going to get that money back.
10:14And I said, it doesn't matter. It's 5,000. And if he needs the money, just give it to him. That's it.
10:22He's won in 2003 and Kilkenny are champions.
10:28You were very upset at the time that all the papers literally lit upon you at the time of your marriage break up. How difficult was that?
10:35It was a marriage break up. It was difficult. That's life, unfortunately. I'm a public figure. Amateur or not, I'm a public figure.
10:49But it's the stuff when they make up a story to get a story. I suppose it's what's most upsetting.
10:55And I'm a big person. I'm an adult. If I do something, I have to put my hand up and say, yes, I done that. I knew what I was doing. You know, so, and if that gets into the public arena, I can't help that.
11:10When DJ Carey himself addressed the rumours, he was given more fuel all the time to the fire and there was more intrigue.
11:19Lo and behold, a few weeks later, he's in the headlines again. There was a front page story about how he had gone into the garage at Crookstown in County Kildare.
11:29He had stopped off. He left the keys in the car, left thousands of euros in the boot and he came out and the car was on its way up the road.
11:41So the headline that the examiner went with that was on that front page was speedy DJ turns the tables on car thief.
11:50That was the front page on how the country's leading GAA star apparently proved to be just as worthy an opponent off the pitch as on.
11:59So he jumped into an onlooker's car, they reported. He pursued the thief himself, even though Gardie were aware there was a guard of cars, there was a guard of helicopter.
12:09And the journalist said that this story ended with Carey tracking down the thief, pulling him out of the BMW.
12:16However, the culprit eventually got away. So he managed to recover his car, but it was reported that several phones as well as two and a half grand in cash were taken and the culprit was still on the run last night.
12:31It just seems like mad stuff. Thinking back, some of the detail of it was really extraordinary.
12:37It's absolutely crazy when you think of how many thousand miles this man drove. Who would do it? From Meishall in County Carlow all the way up to Armagh to some GAA hall. This was on another level.
12:55Now usually hurlers could command a fee. They could get some cash, maybe five or six hundred pounds and an envelope to say thanks to them for doing a gig like that.
13:06There were people I spoke to that said, listen, DJ Carey came here. When we tried to pay him, he'd wave the hand and say, ah, the cup of tea is grand.
13:13I don't think DJ Carey was in it for the money. I don't think DJ Carey was in it for the money. I don't think DJ Carey was pocketing huge amounts of money from these public appearances.
13:27He was very attention seeking behind it all. He craved, desperately craved people's approval.
13:38So in terms of his public profile, the perception of him, he had an excellent reputation.
13:47Because there were times when he walked into a parish and he was like God.
13:52After one particular gem and this ball was doing a river dance in the back of the net, I just said God in his heavenly throne couldn't do that.
14:10I don't think we knew DJ. I don't think any of those people, they knew, they knew the persona.
14:28The thing about DJ is he was a very strange man.
14:31There's an Irish saying, if you want to know me, come live with me.
14:35And I think the people that really know DJ Carey, they spent a period of time actually living with him.
14:41Female relationships, ex-girlfriends, his former wife, they are the people that will know what the real DJ Carey is like.
14:50Because it's very hard to keep a persona or a mask on 24-7.
14:54I don't know if anyone is ever comfortable with the profile. It's there, it's something, you know, I've played our national sport at the highest level.
15:08DJ is spending more time all over the country.
15:13There was a suggestion a DJ was out maybe looking for somebody in terms of an agent of sorts.
15:19So it was reported in the media that Barbara Gallivan was DJ Carey's new agent.
15:26But Barbara had a good friend, Sarah Newman.
15:29The dragons all know what it takes to be successful in the fiercely competitive world of business.
15:34Essex girl Sarah Newman made her fortune by setting up and selling the needahotel.com website.
15:44Sarah had been hugely successful in business.
15:47So she was known, got the name as the dragon because she was on Dragon's Den.
15:53But certainly there was lots of extraordinary stories about her wealth at the time.
15:58For example, Sarah Newman went to Mount Juliet one day, that she'd half a million and that she bought a home in Mount Juliet.
16:06And it is that day that she met DJ Carey.
16:09Sarah was the one with the money, DJ was the one with the profile.
16:14But as soon as he met Sarah, he stepped into a different world.
16:20Cheers.
16:21The country is still digesting the news that DJ's marriage is over.
16:37Five months later, he's out with Sarah Newman.
16:41Huge flurry of media interest.
16:43Cheers.
16:44DJ didn't exactly keep his head down.
16:48So you're fed up with the weather back home.
16:49You want a bit of golf?
16:51You want a bit of sun?
16:52Why not come to one of my favourite places in the world, Sun City?
16:54Sun City.
16:55He went off and filmed a programme with RT, No Frontiers.
16:59And that's how he announced his relationship to Sarah, to the wider world.
17:03They went on a safari to South Africa.
17:05So for a fella who was driven about privacy issues, why would you go off and film a programme with your new girlfriend?
17:10Come on!
17:14Number 14 down there is my boyfriend, so that's why I'm interested.
17:18Kilkenny are producing players all the time.
17:21While it's an end of an era for some players, it's the start for others.
17:26DJ was coming to the end of his career.
17:28He was getting older as a hurler.
17:30He had given a huge amount to Kilkenny hurling.
17:34End of an era.
17:35DJ Carey has confirmed his inter-county career is over.
17:38He didn't owe the supporters anything, but definitely his dedication would have been dwindling towards the end.
17:45He seemed to be very interested in the golf now, and in heading out to the K Club and Mount Juliet to hit a few balls.
17:55He says he had no interest in the socialite scene, but yet himself and Sarah were pictured at many events like that.
18:02There were so many articles about them. Their names were mentioned many times in social diaries in the Irish Independent and elsewhere.
18:10And between them, they were a real Celtic Tiger power couple.
18:15I was a member of Mount Juliet since it opened.
18:25I would have often met DJ up there, played with him a couple of times up there.
18:30Knew him pretty well, to be honest with you.
18:32His part, I'd say, I would have came across as well.
18:39He came across as so honest and truthful.
18:46An absolute gentleman that wouldn't know a lie if it bit him.
18:51I would never have questioned anything.
19:00I met him at Mount Juliet one day.
19:03He was telling me he'd been for an operation over in the States.
19:06And all I can tell you is it was stomach-turning what he described, what he went through over in the States, and the operation he had on his stomach.
19:20This is a jersey that DJ signed for me, one of a number of items, the autograph for me.
19:37The hurling?
19:39He needed at least one or two more treatments, and he was financially in a bad situation.
19:46I was probably, at the time, just lucky.
19:51I had retired, and I had a lump sum between finishing up work and my pension.
19:58So I did have money to spare.
20:01This hurling was made by DJ's brother.
20:05He's personally signed it to myself.
20:09I'll forever treasure this hurling for what it represents for the greatest hurler of all time.
20:17I had 700 or 800 on me the first day that I met him.
20:20So I gave him that and told him, look, I'd see what I could do.
20:23I didn't promise anything to him, but I think it was afterwards then I gave him the 10.
20:28You gave him 10,000?
20:30Yeah.
20:32And I gave him three, I think, after that, and 1,500, 1,500.
20:38About 17, I think, in total.
20:40Um.
20:52Things were great when Sarah was a multi-millionaire.
20:56Celtic Tiger times, plenty of wealth going around.
20:59DJ was certainly enjoying himself.
21:01Life was good in the K Club, but obviously we know what came afterwards.
21:05The crash, the fact that the properties that they paid multi-million euro prices for,
21:11like they weren't worth a fraction of it at the end.
21:14Once the banks wanted their money back, and once things started to get very stressful for the pair of them,
21:21the cracks started to appear.
21:22DJ's business was under pressure.
21:25So while the business was small, he had always managed to make a living out of it and to employ people from it.
21:32But, Katrina obviously was really involved around this time.
21:36Um, around 2009, she had to step away.
21:40Newman took over as director with DJ at that stage.
21:46And she called in the auditors because she wasn't happy with what she saw.
21:49She also spoke to media about it, so this caused a massive issue for DJ and his family.
21:59Katrina was very unhappy with all of that.
22:06She had the media at her door in the period afterwards when all of this became public.
22:12So it got really, really dirty.
22:15Properties owned by him at golf resorts, the K Club in Kildare and Mount Juliet in Kilkenny,
22:20that had been used as security for the debt.
22:23Other assets were sold too.
22:25The banks then on their tails as a couple.
22:27Then 2011, you know, they tried to save the relationship.
22:31There was talk at one stage that they'd get married even.
22:35For Sarah, she had actually planned the wedding.
22:37She did an exclusive interview on the 22nd of April, 2012, when she said that the relationship with DJ was over.
22:47The Dragon and DJ were no more.
22:49Lo and behold, within weeks, DJ's back grabbing the headlines.
22:59This time he was in Kilkenny Garda Station.
23:02Apparently he was filling out a form or something like that when he took some kind of a turn and he collapsed.
23:07In 2012 you collapsed and your son, Mikey, heard the cruelest rumour of them all, which was what?
23:20He was told by a young fellow in his class that came out on Facebook that I had committed suicide.
23:24You know, so you can imagine how difficult that was and how difficult it was for him.
23:30Do you know what happened in terms of the cause of that collapse?
23:34Well, the cause of it was I was carrying a virus around my heart wall, which is called pericarditis.
23:41Okay.
23:43Stress causes it, whatever else, and that brought it on.
23:45So, you know, but thankfully I was in the right place at the right time.
23:49Did you ever sustain, do you think?
23:50DJ did a very high profile interview and he alludes to health in that interview, but it's really confusing.
23:57Right, well that answers that question.
23:59But the other thing...
24:00Didn't you have a brain scan in hospital, DJ?
24:01I did, yeah.
24:02But the other thing I want to say about...
24:03Sorry.
24:04You know, what I found was...
24:05There had even been rumours at that stage that there was something up with DJ.
24:10People were nearly afraid to say the word cancer, but certainly DJ left us with the impression that he had something serious wrong with him.
24:18What did your...the brain scan that you had in hospital show up?
24:20Well, I had a double aneurysm and I had seven blood clots.
24:24Sheepers.
24:25Yeah.
24:27You tend to believe people when they say that something happened to them, but when it's something medical, it's extraordinarily difficult,
24:35because doctors can't verify a story for you about patients, and if the horse's mouth is telling you,
24:41well, yeah, I did go to America and I had clots on my brain.
24:45And maybe he did.
24:48But like everything with DJ, there's question marks.
24:52Because we don't know what's true and what's false.
24:55So he's a bit like the boy who cried wolf.
24:58It's very hard to know where the truth lies.
25:00When I heard about the cancer, I would say I probably neither believed it nor disbelieved it.
25:17It was just another story about DJ.
25:21And look, if you told me that DJ was going to the moon, I would have said, you know, whatever.
25:29It might be true.
25:31Probably wasn't true.
25:32But you never know.
25:34He came in occasionally as a customer.
25:40You'd see him now.
25:41Over the years.
25:42Over the years, yeah.
25:43He always sat at those two tables with his back to the wall, where the sign 17 is there, or the other one over there.
25:50He always sat there, looking down this way.
25:54Do you think he was targeting people?
25:57Now, with hindsight, you're thinking, yeah, he was seeing who his next mark was going to be almost, you know.
26:04There was one man coming in here, and he was involved in the hurling community.
26:08He was a, you know, businessman.
26:10And he just told me that he kept DJ money.
26:14And I can still remember seeing him standing up there, talking with DJ, you know.
26:19So, the money is part of it, but I think the real lack of confidence and respect that you lose when someone you hold in high regard just lets you down a bit, I suppose.
26:40A friend of mine down in Kilkenny was walking through the lobby in the hotel, and there was DJ sitting there.
26:46And he asked my friend for my phone number.
26:52I'd heard that he wasn't well, that he had a very, very serious condition.
27:00There was a killer disease, but the treatment that he was getting in Seattle was working.
27:07He phoned me.
27:09He needed funds.
27:11My first reaction, of course, whatever we can do, we'll do it.
27:16I had a pub that I founded in Spain, Paddy's Point.
27:20We were making lots of money.
27:22In Spain, my son Ian, DJ, would have been his idol as well.
27:26And I said to Ian, we have to do something.
27:30We have to do something for DJ.
27:32And he agreed with that, you know.
27:34On the Friday, he rang me, and he said that he was going to Seattle on Tuesday.
27:44He says, Bernie, you're immersed in the GAA there in Westmeath, and you know the people, you know all the clubs.
27:50Could you get the clubs to raise some funds for this, for me?
27:54I said, of course I will, DJ, but it has to start in Kilkenny.
27:58And by this time, I said, surely there must be, even to tide you over, there must be people down in Kilkenny after you've done all you've done for Kilkenny.
28:06Yeah, he said, I can't do anything down there, I get nothing down there on account of the sister.
28:12Yeah.
28:14He said the scandal with his sister had broken at that time, and I can't set up anything in Kilkenny.
28:24A former Ireland hockey international and camogie player faces three charges of money laundering between January of 2019 and December 2021,
28:34having falsely represented that Carey's Fort Asset Estates was in a position to secure finance for distressed mortgage holders,
28:42and that the deposit was refundable.
28:48DJ Carey, while what he was doing was completely separate to his sister,
28:53they were on two different paths.
28:55But all the time, while the focus was on Katrina,
28:59people were wondering, what if he's not credible?
29:02What if he's been telling us lies?
29:04People started to scrutinise things a little bit more carefully.
29:10When Katrina's story was exposed,
29:13there was, all of a sudden, a lot of attention on the Carey's,
29:17and that wouldn't have suited DJ.
29:18Srina Carey, Paul Murphy here from RT Investigates.
29:20I'd like to ask you about your business and your business practices, please, if you have a moment.
29:26The news with his sister had broken at this stage.
29:29So I was taken aback.
29:30And then Ian, in Spain, he heard something as well.
29:33We were going to give him five grand.
29:38He said, hold back on that.
29:39He said, there's something not right.
29:42He said, give him a thousand first, and we'll see how it goes.
29:46I rang DJ to a silence.
29:53I knew that he didn't consider that any good, you know.
29:57And I felt bad.
29:59And I knew then, as nice as DJ is,
30:03I knew that he really was not happy.
30:11I had a quick conversation with my brother.
30:14And I said to him, you know, what's DJ Carey like?
30:16And he just said to me, stay away from him.
30:18Something not right there.
30:19I said, you know, he's very sick.
30:21Not at all.
30:22There's nothing wrong with him.
30:23Be careful.
30:24Stay away from him.
30:25And then I decided, hmm.
30:27Right.
30:28I think we might have a little bit of a problem here.
30:33There came a point.
30:34I think Meg all of a sudden realized here,
30:36maybe that there was some level,
30:38something deceitful about what was going on.
30:42She found the strength and just said to me,
30:45like being fiercely determined that this wasn't going to happen
30:48to another person.
30:49She just said, enough is enough.
30:51That's it.
30:52End of story.
30:53This is not going to happen to anyone else.
30:55This is DJ Carey, your DJ tonight.
31:10At the time, it never even occurred to me that anybody
31:12could be so devious or maleperative to tell somebody
31:16they had a cancer.
31:18And even worse to say, to tell the husband of a recently diagnosed
31:23person that had the same cancer.
31:24I couldn't, I didn't believe in anyone in, in, in,
31:27could be that evil to do that.
31:29So I absolutely never, never occurred to me that he didn't have cancer.
31:33Never.
31:34I still was very, you know, maybe I do want the money back now.
31:39If he's getting the insurance money.
31:41So I sent a message to DJ and again, he come back,
31:44oh yeah, yeah, I'll do it next week.
31:46And that went down for a number of weeks.
31:48Then he, he'd go back and say, well, I have to transfer.
31:51He, he, he started to, to talk in riddles a bit.
31:54And I began to, I suppose, realize over time that something wasn't quite right here.
32:00Check in my, my mantra.
32:02Okay.
32:03So I got a call one day from very successful businessman.
32:08And he said, hi, Mike, how are things?
32:11And I said, great.
32:12How are you?
32:13I won't mention his name.
32:14And he said, do you know DJ Carey?
32:18And I said to him, how much did you give him?
32:21You big idiot.
32:22And he said, oh my God.
32:25Yeah, I heard, I got, your name was mentioned.
32:27And I discovered that this person had given well in excess of 100,000.
32:33If it works out, brilliant.
32:35And if it doesn't, well, you have to take the flack afterwards.
32:50So Arnton, tell us, did DJ ask you for a loan?
32:54Oh, you did, yeah.
32:55Oh, sure.
32:56You know, the usual stuff.
32:57Those, you know, it didn't make, it didn't add up.
33:03I met him another day and he says, just after getting a full body blood transfusion the previous week.
33:10And he was carrying a bag.
33:11And I said, Jesus, I said, that's amazing.
33:13I said, you're, I think you're some man for one man.
33:15And, but I thought to myself, you know, this doesn't sound right, doesn't even, even sound kosher even.
33:23So I asked a friend of mine who's a doctor, you see, and I said, listen, I said, somebody had a full body blood transfusion, how long would it take to recover?
33:33And he says, Jesus, he says, depends on the system and their body and what they wear and all the rest of it.
33:37And he says, so three months plus.
33:40So I said, so he asked me afterwards, do you think about it?
33:43I says, no, I did it.
33:44But I said, no, it won't be, do anything for you.
33:47There was a friend of mine then, okay, he came to me and he told me he gave him money.
33:51And I says, are you sure that was the right thing to do?
33:54And he says, well, I felt it was right.
33:57And do you know much again?
33:58I'm not sure.
33:59I'm not sure.
34:00He didn't specify the amount, but it was too sizable.
34:04It was more than 15,000.
34:06He's a very capable man, very eloquent, you know, very clever man.
34:18He's not, he's not stupid, you know, by any means.
34:24I have nothing but fond memories of DJ, very grateful to him.
34:28He has always been good and kind, remembered me.
34:31He invited us to his wedding and the launch of his book.
34:36The day in City West when the DVD was launched by the Taoiseach at the time, Bert de Aron.
34:47Some of the lads that heard with DJ when the bad news broke, they said, they stuck by him.
34:53Because they said, well, he's messed up, but we wouldn't have got where we are without him.
34:59We owe him, we owe him an awful lot.
35:05I spoke to him once for a while on the phone there.
35:09On the surface, he was saying everything seemed to be going well,
35:12like he was going to take this court case and take that.
35:15The police had confiscated his phone and gone after people to try and get a case against him.
35:22And, um, things were bad, but he was, he was, he was, he was optimistic, you know.
35:31You see, when you look at it, like, he has to have been run and scared for the last 20 years.
35:35He must have been, or the last 10 years.
35:37Like when the news broke about his sister, he knew that his finances were going to be looked at.
35:43So he must have been, like, what sort of life had he?
35:48There are some moments where you think, like, how could he have gotten to this point?
36:03Like this point of desperation.
36:06I don't know the date that this photograph was taken originally.
36:23But this photo emerged and it was on loads of different forums, platforms, social media, Twitter, WhatsApp.
36:31Every group in the country nearly was sharing this image of DJ.
36:39From what I can see, it appears to be a photograph that DJ took that he sent to somebody.
36:44Maybe somebody he was interacting with around treatment and looking for money or whatever.
36:50It looked like some kind of a charger, iPhone or otherwise stuck inside his nose.
36:55A fairly lame attempt, really, to, to show treatment for cancer.
37:00And it's hard to think, you know, that anybody would believe that.
37:08But then when you compare that to what some of the people who were really involved with DJ,
37:15they recognised things in the photograph that said to me and said to others, said to their friends,
37:20that would be DJ all over, that he was quite creative, that he thought that he was smart.
37:25Like just all very, very strange stuff.
37:29I remember saying to someone, what were people thinking giving him money?
37:37And they said, if you had a million euro and DJ asked you for a hundred grand, would you give it to him?
37:43And I said, yeah, you know, I would.
37:45You would?
37:46Yeah, I would have. If he had asked me, I would have given it to him.
37:49Now, I would have had to. I don't have a hundred grand to hand out.
37:51But if I had, if I was well off and he asked me, I would have given it to him.
37:55And I think that because, because we loved him so much as a hurler.
37:59That picture, I suppose, is extremely special. I got it after the 2003 All-Ireland. DJ was signing autographs as he usually does for everybody.
38:20And my daughter, Bridget, was in the photo along with my niece, Jenny.
38:26And to have a photograph like that for me and for them as well, it's just a treasure to have that.
38:37And after what's happened, I couldn't leave it in the hallway anymore.
38:46So rather than throw it in the bin, there's still history there.
38:52So it's just as greatly put aside in the front room now.
38:57I remember thinking to myself, it was the principal. I'm going to get my money back. How am I going to do it?
39:13So I literally started to play his game. I literally started to play the DJ Gary game.
39:20That's how I got my money back. Me and you against the world, DJ.
39:25Everybody thinks you're a bad guy. You're not a bad guy. I know you're a good guy.
39:30I know where you've come from. You're a role model for my kids.
39:34You know, I'll work with you, DJ, because I know you're going to give me the money back.
39:39Because you know, if you don't, you wouldn't like to see your name spread across the front of the Irish Times.
39:45Because everybody loves DJ Gary. And that wouldn't be something you'd want, because I know your reputation is so important to you, DJ.
39:53It's more important than that 5,000.
39:58Time was moving on. It was getting closer and closer for me to go into isolation pre-stem cell transplant.
40:04And I rang him and said, OK, I need this money by Monday. Would I come meet him?
40:12I said, no, you come meet me in Goldsbridge. I wasn't going to be there. He didn't know that.
40:16And I rang Gary. He was up in the factory. And he came down from the factory to meet DJ.
40:20And I sent a text to DJ on that stage and said, by the way, I'm really sorry DJ. I got stuck down in the hospital just getting Bloods.
40:28Jerry, meet you. I hope that's OK.
40:30She said he'll have 5,000 euro for you. Will you check it?
40:34So, he came in. I counted the money. I think I said to him, that was grand. He didn't say hello. He was embarrassed, for sure.
40:46I think he was embarrassed, but, you know, maybe embarrassing, but there wasn't shame or some element of, you know, he realised here that he had fucked with the wrong person.
40:59So, Jerry rang me at the happiest one. They'd had the coffee, the trash, I got the money. And I'm worried laughing because I just said to myself, poor Fekker, who did he get the five grand from?
41:14I'm embarrassed by all this in lots of ways. Maggie said to me, oh, cop yourself on, like, kind of, you know, what are you embarrassed about?
41:22This man was, like, unfortunately, like, you know, a con man. He was taking monies off lots of people and a few of these stories were kind of outlined.
41:31And then, I think, you know, there was a call then for a guard investigation.
41:36So, I got a phone call from a detective. The reason that they had my name was because they had, obviously, his bank records.
41:48And they asked me would I come and speak to him. So, I went down to Waterford and I sat there and I told my story.
41:55I felt it was important to stop him in his tracks. I won't protect him, but I will protect anybody who comes in contact with them from it happening to them. Absolutely.
42:10The guards rang me one day and the first thing they said to me is, oh, I believe you're a friend of DJ Carey's.
42:22And I said, yeah, I am. And then I said, look, before we go on, can you categorically tell me that DJ never had an operation for cancer in the States?
42:40And they were able to tell me categorically. He never had cancer. He was never in the States.
42:50I'd say I'd give him an Oscar for the acting. It was unreal.
42:56The thing about it is, I never, I didn't care whether I got the money back.
43:01He would have got the money anyhow from me, even if he wasn't sick. That's what an icon he was. He didn't have to say he was sick even.
43:09It's because he used the sickness. That's brought the sour note to everybody's door.
43:18The judge said most fraudsters seek to exploit people's greed, but DJ Carey had exploited people's good nature.
43:25He knew a lot of these people. They knew him as a formidable sportsman and wanted to help him in his hour of need.
43:32There's an old Chinese proverb, no man should be judged on his worst deed, you know.
43:41Now the only thing that soured me, I had a good friend that we buried early this year, Jono Mahoney.
43:48And Jono was equally iconic in the GA as DJ. And he was one of the loveliest guys you could meet.
44:01Jono had the disease the DJ claimed he had. And Jono, the dignity with which he fought it and carried himself.
44:09That was the difference between two GA sporting icons. I resented very much then, for the first and only time I resented what DJ was doing, you know, on account of that.
44:21I'm sure it would be a disappointing turn for the average supporter.
44:39But it won't make any difference to me in how I look at the game of hurling.
44:43I'll still see that ball hitting the crossbar in Cork Park. I'll still see the crowd getting up under seats. Highs in life and memorable moments.
44:59Then no prosecutor, or no journalist, give me that moment. I won't get that spark that made my life a higher quality elsewhere.
45:13Yeah, I do remember the way he made me feel. And I don't know, I don't think it excuses bad behaviour. You know, it doesn't. I'm sorry.
45:28When you look at it, it's everywhere. It's in arts. It's in film. What do we think of the Woody Allen masterpieces?
45:36What do we think of Caravaggio's? Do we still listen to Thriller? You know, like, what do you do with that?
45:41What do you do with that huge moral dilemma about the sinner and the sin? And I think we loved the sinner. But we can't condole the sin.
45:53I'm disgusted. Your wife died of cancer. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Did DJ know that?
46:08Oh, sure. That was, like, you can't live my life and live the life I've lived in front of people. Like, when my wife died. Like, I've seen what cancer does. And I've seen the devastation that cancer can have. And I've seen the devastation that cancer had in our house.
46:27And the effort that it took to get to the stage we're at now. But as regards DJ, DJ would have known, like, but for somebody, for anybody to say that they suffer from cancer, and it's not, if it's not true, that's, that's, there's no coming back.
46:49There's, you just, you can't be comfortable with that. That, to me, is beyond it.
46:56DJ has been jailed now for five and a half years. It's really hard to say exactly how much he took. Some sources are saying to me that two million wouldn't be wide off the mark. Businessman Dennis O'Brien alone gave DJ over 125,000 euro and $13,000.
47:17There's victims watching this, and they've never come forward. Some men will be afraid to have told their wives. But the question is, how many of them are out there, and how much was taken?
47:33Former Kilkenny hurler, DJ Kerry, has been jailed for five and a half years for defrauding people by falsely claiming he had cancer and needed money for treatment.
47:44Kerry defrauded 22 people out of almost 400,000 euro, around 350,000 euro, of which has never been repaid. The judge said he couldn't imagine a more reprehensible form of fraud.
47:58I was delighted when he pleaded guilty because he's now facing up to the reality because he wasn't living in a real world up to now.
48:14When you have an addiction problem, and obviously DJ has a type of addiction, you have to face the truth yourself.
48:23And hopefully he will.
48:27And when he was a hurler, he never failed to take responsibility.
48:32Standing up in Croke Park to take a penalty shot in an all-Ireland final day, that takes guts.
48:38So that if he shows the same type of resilience, and determination, and guts, he can get through this as well.
48:51To me, anyway, it's a Shakespearean tragedy.
48:56A fatal flaw in a grand person.
49:02But it's of his own making.
49:03A fatal flaw in the order.
49:25And it's that demek.
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