A former garda has said a colleague carried out a “calculated, predatory act of violence” by impersonating her online and inciting men to come to her home and rape her.
Shane Flanagan (39) with an address in Co Clare impersonated the woman on the fetish website, FetLife.com, and on Facebook for the purpose of arranging for people to come to her home and rape her.
He created the accounts using the woman’s personal information, and shared details including her address, and photographs of her and her daughters.
Det Garda Paul English told Anne-Marie Lawlor SC, prosecuting, that the woman and Flanagan were friends and there had never been any romantic or sexual history between them.
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Det Garda English said the woman was extremely shocked to find out that Flanagan was the one who had been impersonating her online. “If you gave me a list of 500 names of people that could have done this to me, I would never have guessed it was him,” the woman told the investigation.
Flanagan pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman on dates between November and December 2020.
He also pleaded guilty to six counts of endangerment, in that he intentionally or recklessly engaged in impersonating the woman in Facebook communications, and on the website FetLife.com in which communications invited persons unknown to visit violence upon her and two others, thereby creating a substantial risk of death or serious harm on dates between 2018 and 2020.
Flanagan also pleaded guilty to one count of possession of four images of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography, on January 7th, 2021. He has no previous convictions.
Reading her victim impact statement, the woman said Flanagan was a fellow garda, someone she had trusted and called a friend, who was supposed to uphold the same professional values.
She said he not only betrayed her, but also took her career. She said Flanagan “plotted” to have her and her daughters attacked, and that he “planned for men to find us and carry out unspeakable acts of violence”.
She said this was a “betrayal beyond words”. She said she no longer feels safe in her own home, has developed anxiety and panic attacks, and that her trust in others has been damaged.
She said no sentence could undo the harm caused and told the court this was not just a “betrayal of friendship” but a “calculated predatory act of violence that has left lifelong scars” for her and her daughters.
The woman asked the court to impose a just sentence to reflect the safety of others and restore trust in the institution of An Garda Síochána.
The court heard that the woman became aware that someone was using her image on Fetlife.com after a user of that website contacted her on her genuine Facebook page in 2020.
In December 2020, she created an account on Fetlife and, while pretending to be male, interacted with the user pretending to be her. The court heard during this interaction, information was shared about her, her address and that she has two teenage daughters. She then made a complaint to gardaí.
Evidence was heard of an extensive investigation, which connected the Fetlife account impersonating the woman to Flanagan.
His home was searched on January 17th, 2021, and items, including a phone and laptop, were seized. Flanagan provided passwords for these devices and an email address.
An analysis of these devices by the Garda National Cyber Crime Unit identified more than 2,000 screenshots from Pulse, 32 records of missing persons and 18 images of Garda age-identification documents.
The login details for the Fetlife.com account were autosaved to the browser, and this site was accessed 4,089 times between October 2020 and mid-January 2021.
Four images of child abuse material were also found on the laptop.
The investigation also found that Flanagan had created a false Facebook account in the name of Laura O’Riordan, again using the injured party’s information.
Det Sgt English told the court that hundreds of images of the woman, including 219 doctored ones, were found as part of the search.
Two of the users of Fetlife.com who interacted with Flanagan while he pretended to be the woman provided statements to gardaí. Flanagan incited them to break into the woman’s house and rape her.
He also shared information including the woman’s address and a Google Street view of her home, and invited the users to come to the woman’s home to rape her. He also told these users that the woman was a single parent with two teenage daughters.
Det Sgt English agreed with Pádraig Dwyer SC, defending, that his client retired from the gardaí in March this year and had an “unblemished” record of service.
Testimonials from family members, probation and psychological reports were handed to the court.
Mr Dywer read a letter of apology from his client to the court.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon remanded Flanagan in custody for finalisation of sentence next month.
