A man has been jailed for three years for harassing his then-girlfriend and threatening to share intimate images of her.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the man was 47 and the woman was 20 when they started a relationship after meeting on a dating website during the summer of 2019.
He later threatened to send intimate images to her parents and made threats to send the photos and other items, including a sex toy, to the woman’s younger brother. He also persistently emailed the woman and made multiple calls to her workplace.
The man, now aged 52 and with addresses in Co Dublin and Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to harassment on dates between June 2020 and July 2021. He also pleaded guilty to threatening to distribute or publish an intimate image of the injured party on a date in July 2021. He cannot be named to protect the woman’s right to anonymity.
Prosecuting barrister Emer Ní Chúagáin read the woman’s victim impact statement to the court, in which she said the man took sexual photos of her without her consent. She said she asked him to delete them when she found out, but he said that if she did not do what he wanted, he would send them to her relatives and boss.
The woman said the man’s constant calls to her workplace were disruptive and got her into trouble, resulting in the loss of her job. She described feeling fear, anxiety and stress as result of his actions.
The investigating garda told Judge Elma Sheahan that the woman is now living abroad and feels too scared to come back, even to visit her family.
The judge said it was “striking” that in the emails he sent to the woman, the man appeared to “enjoy toying with the complainant’s emotions by issuing threats of what he would do if she did not comply with his demands”.
She said the man’s offending “must be viewed in the context of the age disparity”, which was aggravating, along with the effects on the woman and the “repeated interference” with her work and home life.
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She imposed a global sentence of four years, suspending the final 12 months on the condition that the man keep the peace and be of good behaviour, noting his efforts towards rehabilitation.
An investigating garda said the woman shared some intimate images of herself with the man in the early stages of their relationship on the understanding they would not go any further.
The court heard her parents became aware of the relationship in December 2019 and were concerned about the age gap. They believed the relationship ended at that point, but it continued.
Around February 2020, during the pandemic, the woman told the man she could not see him for a while. She was working from home and had a family member who was immunocompromised.
The man persistently asked her to meet and became angry that she was not willing to. The woman felt manipulated into sending him intimate photos to maintain the peace.
She felt she could not end the relationship as the man would persistently call her, up to 50 times a day, the court heard.
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She ended the relationship in June 2021 after her father saw a message from the man on her phone. He had made multiple threats to distribute intimate images of her by this point.
Around this time the man started to persistently email the woman, with some emails having intimate images of her attached. He also said he would put up hundreds of images of her in her hometown.
He then started calling and sending emails to her workplace. Between July 7th and 10th, 2021, he tried to contact her 15 times on a shared landline.
He emailed the woman a photo of a lane near her home on July 8th, 2021. She told gardaí she was terrified, realising he was outside in a vehicle. He started beeping the horn, which she felt was an attempt to draw attention to his presence.
The woman went to gardaí as she was concerned about his behaviour.
The man’s home in Co Wicklow was searched on July 21st, 2021, and he accepted ownership of several devices found there. He asked to speak to gardaí privately and, after caution, admitted threatening to publish the images.
The garda witness agreed with defence counsel Dean Kelly that while the man threatened to share the intimate images, he did not actually do so. Kelly said he was instructed to apologise on his client’s behalf, adding that the man now has a “clear and shameful sense” of the severity of his actions.