A 62-year-old grandmother, who posted soiled underwear to a couple she had been harassing for years, has been sentenced to three years in prison with the final two years suspended.
Goretti O’Dowd, of Parkmore Estate, Tuam, pleaded guilty at Galway Circuit Criminal Court to three charges of harassment involving two people at various locations in the town on dates between May 2012 , and October 2014.
Defence barrister Conal McCarthy said she had a long history of mental health issues and was under the care of the psychiatric services.
Judge Rory McCabe said the continuous, prolonged nature of the harassment placed it at the high side on the scale of gravity. The harassment took many forms, he said, and its impact on the victims was severe.
Referring to a psychiatric report, Judge McCabe said it concluded the accused had “a very complex and indeterminable psychiatric profile” and there was no doubt she needed help.
He said that while he was being told the accused was currently receiving therapy there was no guarantee she would continue to receive it once she stepped outside the doors of the courthouse.
“It seems to me she will not concentrate her attentions on this unless she’s placed in ‘a controlled environment’ and there is a very real risk of recidivism and a questionable hope of rehabilitation if she is not,” Judge McCabe said.
He directed O’Dowd have no contact with her victims or any members of the victims’ families and he also directed she be assessed and given the appropriate treatment and follow-up care while in prison.
A condition of the suspension, he added, was that she be of good behaviour and not reoffend during the next five years.