Former garda Paul Moody returned to jail for coercive control of second woman

26/7/22 Paul Moody sentence hearing. PIC: Collins Courts

A woman who was harassed by a former garda said she was “met with silence” after making a complaint about his behaviour to GSOC.

Paul Moody (46) harassed his then partner, sent her abusive messages and threatened to send intimate images to her employer.

Moody, formerly of St Rapheals Manor, Celbridge, Kildare pleaded guilty to harassment and coercive control.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that this offending took place on dates between March 2016 and November 2017.

Moody’s offending continued while the woman was in hospital pregnant, and after the birth of their child. Their relationship ended in early 2017.

Moody had been jailed in 2022 for three years and three months after pleading guilty to coercion in relation to another woman. The court heard then that he engaged in a four-year campaign of harassment, threats, assaults and coercive control of Nicola Hanney, whom he was in relationship with after this woman.

“If someone had listened in 2017, Nicola would have been spared," the woman said.

Moody joined the gardaí in 2000 and served for 21 years before he was suspended.

This injured party went to GSOC in December 2017 and made a statement in March 2018 after the investigation started, forwarding them a large amount of material.

She didn’t receive any updates until October 2020 when GSOC told her Moody had been invited for interview the previous July but did not attend as he was on work-related stress leave.

Letters from GSOC relating to the injured party’s complaint were found when Moody’s home was searched in relation to the investigation into his conduct against Ms Hanney.

Detective Sergeant Maria Cassells of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) said this was the first time that the investigation became aware of the woman’s allegations.

In late 2022, she asked the NCBI to take over her complaint. In her victim impact statement, the woman said she was not free after the break-up and was “met with silence” after making a complaint to GSOC.

She said she felt “profound anger” that Moody continued to serve - “wearing the uniform of protection” - but was an abuser behind closed doors.

The woman said a welfare call from GSOC on the day Moody was sentenced in 2022 was like a “sledgehammer”.

She said the “neglect” of her complaint prolonged her trauma and the delays made it feel like his control had not ended.

She said she had been “profoundly let down”, but the NBCI “restored some of my faith”.

She said Moody took “far more than years” including “trust, peace and part of who I was”.

She said she knows others are living in similar situations and hoped that “accountability in this case sends a message that this will not be tolerated”.

In the statement read to the court by Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, the woman said she was “subjected to a level of abuse which altered the course of my life” during her relationship with Moody.

She said she trusted Moody “completely” and he “used the uniform to present himself as a good person”.

“He didn’t need to hit me to cause harm”, she said, adding that the threats and psychological harm were relentless.

She said Moody was “aware of what he was doing” and suggested a safe word to stop things escalating which he ignored when she used it constantly.

She described one night where Moody destroyed the nursery, then “paced with a knife like a man possessed”.

She said he taunted her, then tried to intimidate friends who came to help her, using his role as a garda.

“They came in anyway. I believe that intervention saved us that day."

Ms McGowan told the court that Moody can be named in reporting of the case, but the victim should not be identified.

Imposing sentence, Judge Martin Nolan noted that the offending was “prolonged” and “extreme”.

He said the harassment and abuse was “extremely personal, insulting and very undermining”.

He noted that the court sentenced Moody in 2022 for similar offending. He said the court accepted that it must try to envision what global sentence would have been imposed if both cases had been dealt with together.

The judge noted the guilty plea and that there were “other small factors in mitigation”.

He handed Moody a six-year sentence with the final 15 months suspended on strict conditions, noting that the global sentence for all offending would have been in region of eight years.

He also made an order that Moody should have no contact with the woman, her family or friends for 20 years and backdated the sentence to December 2024.

Moody and the woman met during 2015. She knew he was a garda and married, and their relationship developed after he told her his wife had moved out.

Evidence was heard that there was a lot of fights, with Moody often focusing on the woman’s past relationships, including with her ex-husband.

During a trip abroad, Moody took intimate pictures of the woman. She asked him to delete them and understood that he had.

The woman felt the issues in the relationship were her fault, and that Moody was always right.

The couple lived for a time with the woman’s mother, then later lived together in his home in Celbridge.

The woman became pregnant and spent time in hospital before the birth. Moody sent her over 2,200 messages using WhatsApp and text between March 2 and March 8, 2016.

Another patient sharing a room with the woman told a nurse on March 5, 2016 to get Moody to leave.

When the nurse checked on the woman, Moody was whispering in her ear. He became aggressive after being asked to leave.

After Moody left, the woman told the nurse he kept calling and texting her. The nurse spoke to her superiors, which led to Moody being barred from visiting.

The court was told Moody was upset he was on his own and there was no one to buy him a birthday cake.

On March 4, Moody sent the woman messages, including one where he called her a “homewrecker” and said: “Do us all a favour, let nature take its course.” 

He also messaged the woman: “I hope you bleed out and die you c***” and “I hope you lose [the baby] and die in the process for your lies and carry on.” She replied on March 6 asking him to leave her alone.

Moody messaged her the next day saying she hadn’t answered 40 calls. On March 8, things improved with Moody messaging her “I will protect us”, with the woman then asking him not to bring up the past and threaten her with it.

Their relationship improved for a time, before deteriorating again.

In August 2016, she messaged a male friend. Moody found her phone and saw a message from this friend.

He got angry and made her reply, saying not to come. The woman’s friend ignored this, and came anyway.

The woman later left Moody’s home. He then bombarded her with abusive messages.

The woman lived with her mother, before returning to Moody’s home.

She later moved out, but Moody took some of her belongings including her passport.

He continued to contact her constantly, apologising to her and trying to reconcile. He sent her videos in which he was crying and talking about his mental health issues.

The woman accompanied Moody to a doctor, where he declined the offer of hospital treatment to assist his mental health.

Moody also caused issues with the woman’s plans to travel to visit a relative in the United States through emails he sent to the American authorities.

He messaged the woman on February 4, 2017, telling her she was a “bit on the side, a dirty secret”.

Moody also told her he would quickly move on from their relationship.

She ended the relationship the next day. He continued to contact her.

Moody then set up several fake accounts which he used between February and November 2017, including a Facebook profile in her ex-husband’s name that he used to make around 760 friend requests to people she knew.

The court heard the charge of coercion relates to a single incident during which the woman had blocked Moody from contacting her.

He told her she would regret blocking him and threatened to send intimate images of her to her former husband and an employer.

The court heard that Moody also demanded money from the woman in relation to rent he perceived she owed while they were living together.

Det Sgt Cassells agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that Moody has been in custody and has had no contact with the woman.

Mr Bowman noted a probation report assesses his client at high risk of re-offending without further offence-focused work.

Moody has experienced mental health difficulties and spent time in hospital in 2021 following a breakdown.

Counsel said Moody had been using alcohol as a “crutch”, but did not have an addiction.

Mr Bowman noted Moody did not follow through on his threats to send intimate images.