‘You’re on your own and he’s the judge’
Former Judge James O'Connor .
When Ms A appeared before Judge James O’Connor, she was at a low station in her life.
She had been living in Ireland for about 15 years, was married and had two children. A few years previously, she’d had to leave her job under acrimonious circumstances.
Then her marriage fell apart. Her husband assaulted her and she sought a barring order. She was on medication at the time to deal with the extreme stress she was under.
Her first appearance before Judge O’Connor was in Killarney District Court in 2016. Later that year, when she was applying for a continuation of an interim barring order, he asked in court for the phone numbers of her and her estranged husband.
After the case concluded and she had left the court, he phoned her. She thought it was a prank at first, but it wasn’t. He told her she looked very beautiful in the court that day.
“I was brought up a good girl, taught to look up to my elders,” she told the .
“They have their knowledge of the world. And then Judge O’Connor is ringing and that doesn’t sound good. He is a judge and he is a lot older than me.
“He is also representative of the law. If I don’t like my doctor or there is a problem, I can go to another doctor. You have to go before this judge.”
The judge contacted Ms A on a number of occasions over the following months into early 2017. They met for coffee. She says he asked for her home address.
At the meeting, she claims, she “believed his body language clearly indicated that he was pursuing an inappropriate romantic relationship”.
She says she has tried to highlight what happened to her because “judges should not contact ladies. If they are crying in front of you, like I was, then maybe they are vulnerable. That should not have happened.”
Ms A has initiated a claim for personal injuries against the State over the whole issue.
A second woman who has come forward, Ms B, also appeared before Judge O’Connor in a family law case in Kerry that went on for years.
She claims that, one night in a local pub, she was approached by Judge O’Connor, who said he knew her face. She said she told him it was from the court and they probably shouldn’t be talking.
“He said, ‘Judges can have friends too,’ ” she says.
On another day, she claims she met him in a supermarket. He addressed her by her first name and joined the queue she was in.
“When I was finished, he told me to wait outside the door for him. Outside, he asked me for my phone number. What could I do? You’re on your own with small kids and he’s the judge.”
She claims that he repeatedly texted or phoned her for a period after that and she agreed to meet him for a cup of tea.
“I took my two kids,” she says. “I knew what he was doing was wrong, but what was I going to do about it. He was the judge. It was bizarre when I look back on it.”
She met him one more time in the courthouse and, soon after that, the calls and texts stopped.
“I told my brother and a good friend about it at the time. I was going to report it but, when I see what happened the woman who did report it and nothing was done, I’m glad I didn’t,” she says.
Ms A reported her case to the gardaí, who investigated it and concluded that no criminal matter arose.
Ms C’s alleged encounter with the judge began during an acrimonious family law case with her ex-partner.
“He [her ex-partner] started getting nasty and unpleasant and offered €10 per week maintenance after telling the judge that the child wasn’t his.
“The judge got angry at his mistreatment of me and sent him out into the hallway with the clerk to discuss a more reasonable amount of maintenance.”
That left Ms C alone with the judge.
“I’m looking around wondering will I just sit here,” she told the .
“Then he said ‘I have a question for you’, and I looked at him and he said, ‘Would you like to go out for a cup of coffee sometime?’
“I told him it was a small town and he was well known, and I couldn’t afford to have people speaking about me. He said, ‘If you change your mind, come and stand at the back of the court and I’ll know why you’re there.’ I said OK.”
About 18 months later, Ms C was in court again over a maintenance issue. This time she wasn’t scheduled to appear and was told by her solicitor to stand in the court and the judge would deal with emergency family law matters when the regular work was done.
She was one of two people waiting to see Judge O’Connor at the end of the day.
“The judge asked me to wait outside and opened the side door [in his room] to the street. He obviously thought I was there to meet him personally.
“I clarified that I had a family court issue and conducted my business quickly, and left immediately before I could get pulled into a conversation.”
The third encounter Ms C had with Judge O’Connor was another year later. She was working near the courthouse. The judge was strolling down the town.
“He saw me on the footpath and said hello and said in a low voice, ‘Can I have your phone number?’ I said I didn’t have a phone and walked away. He continued to stare at me for 20 minutes or so while in conversation with someone else.
“When he passed close to me again, he once again asked me for my phone number. I said no and didn’t even try to be polite. He needed to stop. He eventually left and I haven’t seen him again.”
Ms C was reluctant to come forward. She had told friends about the encounters and some found it difficult to believe. She says that the judge did not retaliate in any way, so she didn’t want to bring it any further.
However, when she saw that Ms A came forward, she felt that she had to speak out.
“For the brave woman who came forward, I wish her all the best,” Ms C says. “I wouldn’t see her mistreated for speaking the truth.”
Judge O’Connor may have a completely different version of events, but efforts to contact him over the last two days have come to nought. Messages left on his answering service have not received any reply.
He was appointed to the district court bench around 1999 and reached the retirement age of 65 in 2017.
At the time, district court judges could continue working until they were 70, on the basis of one-year extensions, which tend to be granted in all cases when applied for unless serious illness is an issue. (Today the automatic retirement age is 70.)
Judge O’Connor applied for an extension in 2017 and was granted it. In 2018, he retired. The understands his application for a further 12-month extension was turned down.
The Judicial Council conduct committee, designed to deal with disciplinary matters for judges, is not yet up and running. It is expected to be in operation by next summer at the latest.
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