Harassment victim's ex-partner now feels brave enough to walk on her own again

After the tracker was discovered on her car, a garda told Fagan's ex-partner that 'this has taken a serious turn', writes Ann Murphy

In February, 39-year-old Seán Fagan, of Dunvale Crescent, Frankfield, Douglas, Cork, was sentenced to four years in prison, with the last two years suspended, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court for the harassment of his former partner.

Sitting in a courtroom all day while she sought a safety order was something the former girlfriend of Cork man Seán Fagan never thought she would have to do.

But 14 months after she had ended their two-year relationship, her life was starting a journey of more than four years on a legal route to get to a place where she felt strong enough to do something as simple as going for a walk by herself.

Sitting in a Cork City hotel with this reporter, the woman does not mind admitting that it is only now she feels brave enough to go on nights out with friends or even to go for a walk by herself.

In February, 39-year-old Seán Fagan, of Dunvale Crescent, Frankfield, Douglas was sentenced to four years, with the last two years suspended, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court for the harassment of his former partner.

He has also been ordered to have no contact, directly or indirectly, with his ex-girlfriend, and not to go within 500m of her home or place of work for a period of 15 years. The harassment took place between September 26, 2021, and March 12, 2022.

The court heard he repeatedly showed up at the same places as her after they had broken up, and a tracking device was found attached to the exhaust pipe of her car when it was examined by a mechanic in March 2022.

The court heard that gardaí had advised the woman to have her car checked when she became more and more certain that she was being followed.

Tracking devices

When gardaí subsequently searched Fagan’s home, they found two other tracking devices and a tracker app on his phone.

Two months on from his sentencing, Fagan’s ex partner says: “There is a massive relief that it is finally over. Walking down to you, I am not looking behind me.

“Before, I was big into fitness and loved going for walks. I went for a walk once or twice during the time all of it was going on. I couldn’t relax. Every car that looked like his, anyone that looked like him, I avoided certain areas of the city for a while for fear of bumping into him.”

She says just to be able to do the little things like going for a walk by her self again is great.

“Even being out socially. I used to just make up excuses for people before to not go out because that was easier than trying to work out how I was getting in, how am I getting home, will I be on my own. It was so much.”

She worried that she could become the victim of an attack by Fagan, and says: “How did I know that he wouldn’t see me with somebody, and that wouldn’t be the straw that broke the camel’s back, and that he wouldn’t harm me?

“I was afraid, and I said that to the guards at one point.”

She also says that she moved house. She regularly feared that Fagan would find out her new address.

After coming back from holidays with her current partner, she says she experienced feelings of paranoia when she noticed a warning light come on in her car that had been parked outside her home while she was away.

She says: “A light came on, just a warning light, but my head immediately went to thinking he knows where I am and has been at my car, because my car was fine before I left. That was the paranoia I was in.”

She and Fagan had been a couple for two years before she ended the relationship in July 2020.

It was just like any normal break up, or so I thought

She also says there was nothing during their relationship to suggest that Fagan would behave as he did following the break up.

However, 14 months later, she found Fagan’s bank card near her home, and it was the first indicator that he might have been following her.

She says: “It was unsettling that he was there, and I was wondering was he looking for attention and for me to reach out or something. That was the first time.”

Following the discovery of the trackers, she was shocked.

She says: “It is extreme lengths to go to to keep tabs on somebody. It is frightening.

“I couldn’t actually get my head around what was happening and, even reading it in the paper after the sentencing, I couldn’t believe I was actually reading this about myself, that this has actually happened to me. I still don’t think it’s fully after sinking in.”

'I knew it wasn't a coincidence'

When the tracker was found on her car in March 2022, she finally felt that her belief that she was being followed was justified.

She says: “I knew something was going on — but I was wondering how was he following me, how was this actually happening. I didn’t understand. I went and got my phone checked in my local phone provider, and I felt like an absolute lunatic.”

After the tracker was discovered, a garda told her that “this has taken a serious turn”.

Of her own reaction to the discovery, she says: “That was when I realised. I broke down, shaking.”

She holds out her hand, showing the size of the tracker which she said would have fitted in her palm.

She adds that, on one occasion when she realised he had followed her to a café, she asked the staff if they had CCTV because she felt she was being followed. She was relieved when they took her seriously.

Of the incident, she says: “I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. I think it was my first or second time ever at that café. This was not a regular place I would go to.”

Following the discovery of the tracker, she knew she had to do something to protect herself. She went to court to secure a safety order against her former partner.

She says: “I sat in a courthouse all by myself all day because I didn’t know I had to go in front of a judge to ask for it. I didn’t expect there would have to be a court hearing to get a safety order where he would also have to be represented.”

As that safety order came close to expiring, she felt she might require a second one because the case had not yet come to trial stage.

She says: “I went to a solicitor and, to be honest, I was really let down by the reception I got. I felt like it was my fault that I didn’t know what was going on [with the case].

That was the tipping point for me. That broke me. It was May nearly two years ago. I was signed off work for May, June, July, and August

“I felt I had had to do all that stuff, and I had to deal with victim support services and court services. That particular incident broke me. I was there having to take a day off work, worried for my safety, running between solicitors and over and back to the court.”

Looking back on the twists and turns that have taken place since the tracker was found, she says: “The process itself was a lot longer than I would have expected it to be. I knew I was reporting something, and there were steps to be followed, but I just didn’t expect it to go on for as long as it went on. It went on for four and a half years.

Safety order

“The amount of stuff I had to do as someone who hadn’t done anything wrong — go for a safety order, getting solicitors — the amount of time I had to take off work, it was just a lot.

“I just think I wasn’t aware of how long it would be, how things could be adjourned so many times, and just how vulnerable you are.

“Even on the morning, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do the victim impact statement or not. I felt after four and a half years, I kind of owed it to myself to do it.”

She was relieved that Fagan pleaded guilty at his arraignment, which saved her having to sit through a trial. She says she broke down when she heard of his plea.

“That for me, whatever happened at the sentencing, felt it was worth having come this far just to be shown that I wasn’t making it up,” she said.

“It took him four and a half years to admit everything he had done. Anything that came after that was just an extra.”

Despite the lengthy delay in getting justice, she does not regret reporting the harassment to gardaí.

Her life since the sentencing in February is now vastly different given that Fagan is in jail.

To anyone who feels they are being harassed or stalked by someone, she says: “Go ahead and report because it is for your own safety at the end of the day.”

- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.