Former Cork councillor looked woman 'dead in the eyes and called himself a stalker', court told

The young woman's victim impact statement detailed the effect the three incidents of harassment had on her

Joseph O’Donovan, formerly known as Gary O’Flynn, who has 26 previous convictions, including for soliciting a person to murder three people including a garda, pleaded guilty to harassment. Picture: Noel Sweeney

A former Fianna Fáil councillor charged with harassment looked a young woman “dead in the eyes and called himself a stalker,” a court has heard.

He then laughed and “that laugh makes me recoil in fear to this day,” the young woman said in her victim impact statement which she read to Cork District Court on Friday.