Cork man harassed woman by sending 33 mails to her boss saying she was a horrible person

The court heard the defendant and the injured party had been platonic friends and she had tried to assist him in dealing with his alcohol addiction

The defendant sent a total of 33 emails in two short periods between November 2023 and March 2025. File picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA

33 emails were sent to a young woman’s employer by a man who described her as a horrible person and now he has been given a two-year suspended sentence and an order to have no communications with her and not to go within 100 metres of her for the next five years.

The young woman complained to gardaí when her employer first alerted her to the emails arriving to the workplace, without any attempt by the sender, James O’Sullivan of 27 Leeview, Ballincollig, Cork, to conceal his identity. 

Detective Sergeant Liam Walsh said a member of An Garda Síochána approached him and told him to stop sending the emails. At that stage the young woman did not wish to make a formal complaint — she just wanted it to stop. 

However, after about two months she began to receive more such emails, and did make a complaint. James O’Sullivan, aged 34, was then prosecuted for harassment and immediately pleaded guilty. 

Alison McCarthy, defence barrister, said the young man had been addicted to alcohol for a long time and that this was in the background to his behaviour where he became jealous of friendships which the young woman had. She is several years younger than him.

Judge Helen Boyle said an aggravating factor was that the defendant had continued with the harassment even after being warned by a member of An Garda Síochána. 

However, the judge noted several mitigating factors, notably the signed plea of guilty, the absence of any previous convictions, the fact that he had rehabilitated and was off alcohol since June 2025, and the fact that he is doing well in employment and has not sent any email or had any contact since March 2025 when the harassment stopped.

Ms McCarthy also said that the reason the case had come to the circuit rather than the district court was because the district judge had refused jurisdiction.

Det. Sgt Walsh said the defendant and the injured party had been platonic friends and she had tried to assist him in dealing with his alcohol addiction. However, she ended up blocking his calls. 

He sent her a total of 33 emails after this, in two short periods between November 2023 and March 2025 and also attended at a work event which he knew she was attending, and once went to her home and spoke to her father.

The defence barrister said that the probation report was very favourable and put him at low risk of ever re-offending. She said he expressed real remorse and said he was mortified and ashamed at what he had done.