A WOMAN who made more than 6,000 abusive telephone calls during one month to a solicitor has been told she will go to jail if she ever contacts the man or his family again.
Antoinette Lynch (58), Clonmel Road, Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded guilty to harassment of Darach Connolly by telephone at Mr Connolly’s office between February 1st, 2005 and July 19th, 2008.
She also pleaded guilty to harassment of Alistair Rutherdale between January 1st, 2005, and July 17th, 2008, by telephoning and calling at his home address.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that between June 16th and July 16th, 2008, Lynch made 6,372 calls to the victims, more than 6,000 of which were made to Mr Connolly’s home, office and mobile phone. The harassment arose out of a family dispute over the estate of Lynch’s late uncle, which Mr Connolly and Mr Rutherdale, a barrister, were hired to handle in the High Court.
Garda Olive Holden told prosecuting counsel Karen O’Connor that the calls, made from as early as 6am until after midnight, were “increasingly abusive, foul-mouthed and irrational”.
On July 18th, 2008, during a 35-minute period from 7.45am, Lynch rang Mr Connolly’s family home 80 times. When the phone was lifted on one occasion Lynch said: “You are scum.”
Garda Holden said Lynch would leave messages on Mr Connolly’s home phone describing him variously as “a scumbag, sick, a parasite, a f**king moron”. She said that on April 19th, 2008, Mr Connolly and his wife saw Lynch in the garden of their home.
Ms O’Connor told Judge Patrick McCartan the harassment had “a very big impact” on the family’s quality of life, especially as a result of the frequently “offensive and insulting” comments made down the phone.
Ciaran O’Loughlin, defending counsel, said that since the day she had been charged, his client had had no contact with the victims or their families. The victims had no desire to see Lynch jailed and they “just want the matter to end”.
A medical report from Dr Helen O’Neill said Lynch, who had no previous convictions, had features of “paranoid personality disorder”. Judge McCartan ordered Lynch to take an oath that she would not interfere or trouble Mr Connolly or Mr Rutherdale or their families or staff. “If you are brought back I will send you to prison,” he told her.
Lynch was discharged from the charges having taken the oath. The case has been adjourned generally with liberty to the Garda to bring it back before the courts should she break her oath.