Two Irish Leaving Cert students decided to sit each others exams back in ’08 instead of doing the tests themselves, but they were eventually caught, after a Garda hand writing investigator was called in.
It may sound like the makings of bad movie, but two Irish Leaving Cert students were in court today over allegations that they sat each others exams instead of doing them on their own. Strangely enough, one of them is now a ‘Yale graduate’, according to the Irish Examiner.
Conor Dooney, 22-years-old and a graduate of Yale, was described in court as a ‘gifted student’. However, he was on trial in the first place because he sat in for his mate Stephen Boucher (also aged 22) during Stephen’s higher level physics paper back in 2008. Now that’s what we call a committed bromance.
But why would he sit in for his mate, we hear you ask? Well, Boucher wanted the extra points for a marketing degree, and physics wasn’t his best subject.
In yet another twist to this tale, it turns out that Boucher didn’t even need the extra points that Dooney secretly got him. Seriously, is this not already a movie?
The lads would have got away with their little scam if it weren’t for their physics teacher getting involved. Apparently, the teacher heard rumours of what was going on and she reported to the principal after noting that Dooney got a “C” in his paper when she expected him to get an “A”.
So what happened next? Well, the only logical thing would be to get Horatio Caine from CSI Miami on the case. Sadly, he was out of the office, so they asked a handwriting expert at the Garda Technical Bureau who compared other samples of the students’ handwriting.
In all seriousness, the lads could have been in for a world of hurt seeing as the maximum penalty available to the court was a two-year jail term and or a fine up to €5,000. However, in fairness to Judge Desmond Hogan, he said, “a custodial sentence would be disproportionate.
“They were very stupid but that is the height of it.”
As the two lads aren’t criminal masterminds plotting to take over the world and seeing as they pleaded guilty as charged, Judge Hogan handed down a €200 fine each.
