A mother of one who made threats online in respect of then Tanaiste Simon Harris has been sentenced to six months in prison.
The accused, Sandra Barry (40), with an address at Tor an Rí, Balgaddy, Lucan pleaded guilty offences contrary to section 4(1) and (3) of the 2020 Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act.
Defending counsel, Tracey Horan, argued that the messages written by the accused were sent between 23:40 and 23:43pm over “three minutes of madness” and that her client was “appalled” by her behaviour.
The messages, sent over social media read: “What are you going to do about the attempted kidnapping of a child in Dublin, Lucan, Balgaddy, by foreigner?” “butlet” – believed to be a deliberate misspelling of the word ‘bullet’ – “You need a butlet” , “butlet in the head you need”, “you murderer”, “fuck you”, and a message saying, “I hope somebody does something to your family, I wonder if your [family member] gets raped would you sort the country out.”
Ms. Horan argued that her client had “no recollection of actually doing it” and was “fully cooperative” in entering an early plea of guilty.
At the time “a child had been abducted in her area” which had caused her some distress, the court head.
Barry is “under the care of her doctor” and is on anti-depressants, which had been changed at the time. She presented to her GP herself wanting to know “what had gone on with her[self]”.
Ms. Horan said that her client was herself a survivor of a “very serious” assault, and “never in her wildest dreams” would wish anything like this upon another.
Judge Michele Finan said that, while the accused was a person of “good character”, her previous record had to be considered.
She said this had to be “balanced out” with the contents of the vicim impact statement, which was not read aloud, and that “the fact that there was a child involved aggrivates matters,”.
“These crimes are committed behind closed doors in the comfort of people’s homes,”.
“Unfortunately, I have to impose a custodial sentence today,” she said, before ordering that Barry be imprisoned for six months.
Ms. Horan pleaded with the court to “consider suspending” the sentence, emphasising again that the offending occurred over three minutes, however Judge Finan refused, saying she would set recognisance at €200.
“The court has considered all the options,” she said adding, “An incident can take three minutes behind closed doors” but “it’s the impact on the injured party, especially when there’s a child involved”.
Ms. Horan indicated that the judgement would be appealed to the Circuit Court forthwith.