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A vegetable delivery man who stalked and harassed a young mother, who viewed him as a father figure, received a four-month suspended sentence in Drogheda District Court.
Eamon Byrne, 59, of Beechwood Drive, Marley’s Lane in Drogheda, secretly stalked and harassed Amy Dunne, 30, for four months, in what the judge called a “despicable crime.”
The court heard that he sent text messages of a sexual nature to Ms. Dunne from unknown numbers and began to leave vegetables and detergent at her front door.
He said he feared for his life and his safety.
Byrne pleaded guilty to harassing Ms. Dunne between August 2016 and November 2016.
Speaking later, Ms. Dunne said Byrne should have been incarcerated and called for a change in the law to allow District Court sentences to be appealed by the Director of Public Prosecution on grounds of undue leniency.
At the moment, the DPP can only appeal sentences imposed by higher courts.
This despite calls for changes to the law in this regard almost two decades ago.
The court heard that Byrne met Ms. Dunne when she started bringing vegetables home and they became friends.
Garda Sgt. Ray Brady told the court that Byrne became Dunne’s confidant. But he said vegetables started showing up at the door without any notes and Byrne started showing up at his house when his son was home from school, offering elevators.
Sergeant Brady said Ms. Dunne began receiving anonymous messages of a sexual nature, about her underwear and about being a single mother. The messages were always sent at night, he said.
Sergeant Brady said Dunne sought Byrne’s advice without knowing that he was the one who was sending the anonymous text messages.
She reported the messages to Gardaí because she feared for her life and safety.
Upon investigation, Byrne admitted what he had done. Gardaí had to seek help from the UK police as Byrne had destroyed SIM cards and bought credit from a UK mobile phone company.
In her victim impact report, Ms. Dunne told the court that Byrne was a vegetable delivery boy who was old enough to be her grandfather.
She said she started showing up everywhere after her relationship with her then boyfriend ended. She said he made her feel dependent on him, like a father figure.
Ms. Dunne told the court that the text messages always came at night and she mentioned that she was alone and moving around during the day.
She said she lost confidence and security and said that he was offering his help and telling her that it would be a waste of time to inform gardaí of what was happening.
Ms. Dunne told gardaí that she was absolutely shocked when gardaí told her that it was Byrne who had been harassing her and sending the messages.
He said he wanted to throw up. He said that he has not been able to sleep easily since then and that he suffers from anxiety. He also said that he found it difficult to trust anyone and that what had happened had affected his personal relationships. She said she was a single woman with no father figure and that he had made her feel dependent on him.
Judge Eirinn McKiernan said she was concerned about part of a probation report submitted to the court where Byrne claimed that she had not scared Ms. Dunne because she was not easily scared.
However, in court he apologized and said he understood the bad effect it had on her. She said it would never happen again in 100 years.
Judge McKiernan said the crime was very serious and absolutely despicable. He imposed a sentence of four months but said that “due to the passage of time” since the crimes he would suspend the sentence for one year.
She ordered Byrne not to have any contact with Ms. Dunne for 12 months and said she was not impressed with him.
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