A court’s heard a teenager was accidentally paid over 19 thousand euro after his employers missed a decimal point.
Karl Smith of Rutland Avenue in Crumlin has pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to two years in jail.
The 19 year old spent the money in just three weeks on drugs, a PlayStation and bought his mum a bed.
The court heard the offence happened in January 2016.
Mr Smith was due to be paid shortly after his 19th birthday and he rang up his bank to check his balance and was flabbergasted to hear it was over 19 thousand euro.
He had been due to be paid €196.39 euro by his former employer but they had forgotten a decimal point and paid him €19639 instead.
The court heard the teenager thought it was a banking error and proceeded to spend the money on prescription drugs, cocaine, a PlayStation and a bed for his mum.
He also spent some of it on clearing a drug debt and in the bookies.
Within three weeks all the money was gone.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard none of the cash has been recovered and no repayments have been made.
The employers – an insulation company run by a husband and wife - said the loss put pressure on the firm.
The wife in particular was extremely upset by what happened as she was the one to make what was described as a 'simple human error'.
Karl Smith’s barrister described what happened as a bizarre and unusual situation that fell into the accused lap ''at a time in his life when things were far from stable.''
He said it can’t be understated that this was an unbelievable thing to happen to a teenager who was addicted to cocaine, benzos and had a gambling problem.
Karl Smith has 17 previous convictions including one for theft, assault, making threats and criminal damage.
Judge Melanie Greally sentenced Smith to four years in prison with the final two years suspended.
