Limerick criminal jailed over ‘concerted campaign’ of harassment against his ex

A CRIMINAL figure who sent hundreds of threatening messages to his former partner via social media has been jailed for five years.

The 32-year-old, who has an address in Limerick city, had pleaded guilty to a variety of charges including, harassment and breaching the terms of a Protection Order which was granted to the woman.

The defendant has also admitted multiple counts of dangerous driving relating to a high speed pursuit and to deliberately ramming his former partner’s car when it was parked outside her home.

During a sentencing hearing, Garda David Higgins said a brief relationship between the accused man and the injured party “fizzled out” towards the end of 2017 and that there was no contact between them for almost a year.

He said the defendant, who can’t be named for legal reasons, approached the woman out of the blue in December 2018 indicating he wished to repay money he owed to her.

Subsequently the man tried to “rekindle” the relationship and began contacting her more frequently.

Over the following months, he sent a large number of messages on a “variety of platforms” often using more than 20 fake social media profiles.

He threatened to throw acid on her in one message and to “cut her face” to make it look like a Halloween mask in another. 

“The messages became more and more menacing,” said Garda Higgins who said there was a lot of bitterness and anger.

In addition to sending abusive and threatening messages, the defendant also called to the woman’s place of work and to her home which is in a rural village.

Dramatic video footage showing her car being deliberately reversed into was played at Limerick Circuit Court while Judge Tom O’Donnell was told gardai encountered the defendant driving near her home in the early hours of August 24, 2019

During a subsequent pursuit which lasted nearly 30 minutes, the defendant reached speeds of more than 130km/h as he attempted to evade gardai.

Barrister Brian McInerney said his client is ashamed of his behaviour and that he now accepts the relationship he had with the woman is “consigned to ancient history”

In a victim impact statement, the woman said she has lost her trust in people and that and that she is nervous when she is socialising with friends.

She said she has difficulty sleeping as she is afraid her former partner will turn out at her home or her workplace.

Imposing sentence, Judge O’Donnell said the content of some of the messages was very worrying and that the defendant had a high level of culpability,

“This was a concerted campaign to inflict maximum fear,” he said.

A seven year prison sentence was imposed with the final two years suspended.

The man was also ordered not to contact his former partner “by any means”.