Kerry man who intimidated sex worker gets 3 years

A married Kerry father who intimidated a sex worker into withdrawing criminal allegations against him has been sentenced to three years with the last 18 months suspended.

The 40-year-old man sent the woman texts and emails calling her a whore, and threatening to tell her family and neighbours that she was a prostitute if the charges were not dropped.

A character witness described the offender as a straight and decent man who he was prepared to stand by.

After a six-day trial last December, a jury found the man guilty of two counts of threatening or putting in fear a witness in a Garda investigation on dates between April 29 and May 28, 2010.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the charges.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy

said he couldn’t ignore the seriousness of such offences, “which undermine the administration of justice”, while also noting the direct impact the man’s actions had on the victim.

He read from her victim impact report that she was left “alone, terrified, and with no support”. She was in constant fear of what would happen next.

Mr Justice McCarthy said because the man had made it clear he knew where the woman lived, she moved her family to a different area of the country “to feel safe”.

He took into account the fact the man had no previous convictions, a good employment record, that he has a number of children, and that he was otherwise of good character.

Mr Justice McCarthy sentenced the man to three years in prison. He suspended the last 18 months on strict conditions including that he make no contact or attempt to make contact with the victim in any way.

The woman told the trial she was terrified when she received that email. “I was not sleeping, not eating. I was terrified he would come after me. I didn’t know how far he was going to take it.”

The court heard that the accused was identified after investigating garda Detective Ronan Conway tracked down 250 IP addresses linked to his Escorts Ireland pseudonym. This led gardaí to a former employer who identified the accused from CCTV footage from the hotel.

The accused told gardaí that the texts were not threatening and denied that he had threatened or intimidated the woman.