A man who threatened to kill gardaí and rape their children when he made a series of abusive calls from Australia to a Garda station has been jailed for almost four years.
Mark Fair (28) was on the run when he phoned gardaí at Buncrana garda station in Co Donegal in 2015. Over the course of 17 days, Fair called the garda station numerous times and ranted at five female gardaí with threats and abusive language.
He also asked for an officer who was killed in the line of duty in December 2009.
Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer described the threats to kill Garda Elaine Moyles and her husband as being at the upper end of the scale. He also said that threats to the five female members of the gardaí were “cowardly.”
“I am not placing emphasis on the fact that most of the victims were female but this was a fairly cowardly element of the offences. The calls were particularly menacing in nature. The calls were very particular and very violent and of a vile sexual character,” added the judge.
Letterkenny Circuit Court was told that officers could tell it was Fair making the calls and threats as they had dealt with him before. He previously appeared in court where he pleaded guilty to a total of 11 counts of making threats to kill, threats to damage property, and also making grossly offensive phone calls.
The calls were made to Garda Una Cunningham, Garda Gráinne McLoone, Garda Elaine Moyles, Garda Lorraine Crawford and Sgt Carol Doherty.
Shoot
Details of the calls made by Fair, of Ballinahone, Fahan, were read out in court. Fair first began his abusive phone calls on January 10th when he called Garda Moyles. He recognised her voice and told her he was going to shoot her in the back of the head and also kill her husband.
He also asked how Garda Gary McLoughlin was and said he was going to land at Buncrana Garda station and pull the plaque off the wall which was dedicated to the dead officer. The former garda was killed in the line of duty in Co Donegal in December 2009, aged 24.
Fair called the Garda station at a later date and spoke to Garda McLoone. He said he was going to rape her and her children and he hoped her mother died of cancer. He pretended his name was Martin McDermott, a man charged in connection with the death of the late Garda McLoughlin.
On January 12th, Fair called the station again and told Garda Crawford he would sexually assault her, and rape her son and sister “just for sport.”
On another date, he called the station and asked Sgt Doherty if Garda McLoughlin was there which caused her great upset.
And on January 27th, Fair called the station again and spoke to Garda Cunningham. Among other abuse, he said he was going to rape her dog.
“Fraud phone”
A victim impact statement on behalf of all the gardaí who received abusive calls from Fair was compiled by Sgt Doherty and was handed into the judge but not read in open court.
As well as the abusive phone calls and threats, Fair also pleaded guilty to 11 counts of making gain or causing deception using the website Donedeal.
Over a two-month period from February to March 2018, Fair placed fraudulent adverts on the website and also replied to adverts. Among the items he advertised or responded to as having for sale was tickets for the Champions League Final, iPhones, tractor parts, gearboxes and car bumpers.
However, when the cash for the items was sent to various accounts belonging to Fair, the goods were never forwarded on. In total, Fair admitted defrauding people from across the country of more than €3,000.
When arrested Fair admitted he used a “fraud phone”. He apologised to all those he had defrauded and said he had already compensated two of the victims. Fair also apologised to the female gardaí and said he never planned to carry out any of his threats.
Barrister Peter Nolan said his client was a fantasist. He said his client was now in custody for seven months and was a model prisoner.
Judge Aylmer sentenced Fair to a total of three years and nine months on the charge of making threats to kill Garda Moyles but backdated the sentence by seven months to when Fair first went into custody. All other sentences will run concurrently.