Polish stalker jailed for six-year harassment of girl

A Polish national who hacked into a fellow-national’s e-mail to find her Irish address after she fled his long obsession and harassment has been given five years imprisonment in consecutive terms.

Lukasz Juszcak harassed 24-year-old Magda Okinezyc for six years in Poland and then stalked her Dublin residence where he also threatened to kill or injure her boyfriend, Thomas Pluta, and caused criminal damage to the apartment door.

Juszcak (aged 24) from Poznam pleaded guilty to harassing Ms Okinezyc at the Steelworks Apartment Complex in Foley Street, near the city centre on dates from October 19 to November 30, 2006; to causing criminal damage there on November 24, 2006, and to threatening to kill Mr Pluta on November 27, 2006.

Garda Lisa Nolan told prosecuting counsel, Mr Damien Colgan BL, she arrested Juszcak on November 30 at Dublin Airport when he was about to return to Poland while on bail for the threat to kill Mr Pluta.

Gda Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court said Mr Pluta had been horrified to find Juszcak on the same flight as him from Poland to Ireland earlier in November 2006. Ms Okinezyc knew Juszcak in Poland and feared his obsessional stalking of her so much that she fled to Ireland.

She was horrified in October 2006 to find him on the stairs of her apartment building and didn’t know how he found out where she resided. He continued to stalk her there and was arrested but released on bail some days later on condition that he would stay away from her.

Gda Nolan said Juszcak continued returning to Ms Okinezyc’s apartment and damaged the front door on one occasion so that he could look in through the ‘spyhole’ rather than the residents looking out. He also issued the threat to kill or injure Mr Pluta.

Gda Nolan agreed with defence counsel, Mr John Fitzgerald BL that Juszcak told gardaí he believed he was "in love" with Ms Okinezyc and "made frank admissions" about how he had hacked her’s and Mr Pluta’s e-mail messages to learn her Dublin address.

Mr Colgan noted that the victim impact report showed that both victims still feared Juszcak and were concerned for their future though they had returned to Poland.

Judge Patricia Ryan refused defence requests that Juszcak be allowed return to Poland to continue psychiatric treatment there.

"The court having had the benefit of psychiatric reports and having carefully considered all of the matters in them as well as all the surrounding issues does not believe it is appropriate that he be released back to Poland but believes he should be jailed here and get treatment for his psychiatric condition."

Judge Ryan said Juszcak had breached his bail twice and was on bail when he threatened to kill Mr Pluta before Gda Nolan caught him leaving the jurisdiction. He had got a suspended sentence in Poland harassing the victim before "in a very clever way" he followed her here.

Judge Ryan was told on January 11 that Juszcak was refusing to take his prescribed medication in Cloverhill Prison having been discharged from the Central Mental Hospital just two weeks after she remanded him back there last October after being told he was schizophrenic and required ongoing treatment.

Judge Ryan queried why Juszcak had been released so soon and why despite writing a letter to her stating he would co-operate with any psychiatric treatment he was prescribed, he hadn’t (not) been taking his medication since his discharge from the CMH where he had been on remand since May 2007.

Mr Fitzgerald said Juszcak told him he feared he would be regarded by the other prisoners as suffering from a "stigma" if they saw him taking the medication.

Dr Conor O’Neill of the CMH said he was not an ongoing danger to the general public and it would benefit him more to be treated in a Polish psychiatric hospital where his family and friends would be available to him. He would be accompanied there by CMH personnel to ensure he entered custodial treatment.

Mr Fitzgerald said Juszcak’s father was in court and was willing to post cash bail of €5,000. He would collect his son from Cloverhill Prison before taking him on a flight home where he would ensure he received the necessary treatment in a hospital in Poland.

He said Juszcak had a good formal education and achieved a degree in tourism. He was about to embark on a masters’ degree in tourism when he first came to Ireland in October 2006 and could be a valuable member of society as a result of treatment.

"I appreciate the concerns of his family and the difficulties the case has caused them but this is a very serious matter. The option of going back to Poland is not one the court can consider," Judge Ryan said.