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Martin Hughes sent dozens of sexually explicit and threatening text messages to his niece Michelle Doherty between 2011 and 2016, bringing her to the brink of suicide.
Doherty, now 44, even moved to Spain to escape anonymous texting, but was devastated when the 68-year-old began texting her there.
The content of the messages was so disturbing that Judge John Aylmer told the Letterkenny Circuit Court in Co Donegal that he only wanted a sample of the messages.
Judge John Aylmer said this was one of the worst harassment cases he has ever had to deal with, saying the texts had a “devastating effect” on Ms. Doherty’s life.
He also condemned Hughes for showing no signs of remorse and suggested he was justified in some way for running the hate-filled campaign.
He added that he disagreed with the defense attorney’s suggestions that only 50 derogatory text messages were sent to Ms. Doherty.
Among the sexually explicit and threatening text messages sent to Ms. Doherty was one in which he threatened to cut her throat.
Hughes, a 68-year-old father and grandfather, of Quigley’s Point, Co Donegal, had pleaded guilty to a single count of stalking.
Gardaí informed the court of an extensive investigation to find the identity of the owner of the unregistered Northern Ireland phone that was used to send the text messages.
Gardai eventually located Hughes who was hiding his phone in a cardboard box in his garage.
Speaking via video link from Spain, Ms Doherty described the five years of her ordeal during which she said she became depressed and committed suicide.
She said that she physically vomited at times when reading the text messages and was paranoid about who was sending them.
In sentencing, Judge Aylmer said he placed the charge in the middle range for such crimes and initially deserved a four-year sentence.
He initially reduced that sentence to one of three years due to an early guilty plea.
He said that due to Hughes’ age and the fact that he appeared in court with no prior convictions, he reduced the sentence to 12 months.
While sentencing, Ms. Doherty, in a video link from Spain, wept.
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