A Bulgarian man who denies charges of harassing a Dublin woman told gardaí he may have called her too many times but it was only because he could not help himself as he had been so much in love with her.
"I could not stop because I love her so much. I have not the patience to stop," Vencislav Venev (39), a waiter, told gardaí after he was charged with harassment on July 13th, 2004. "I know that's too much. I love this woman."
He admitted he also sent her audio tapes of him crying and telling her she was "a very good woman".
He said that for five years "she had given me everything, took me from Bulgaria, found me a job" and also tried to help him stop drinking.
Mr Venev, from a Bulgarian village on the Black Sea coast, has pleaded not guilty to harassing Mary Gilhooley, Cannonbrook Park, Lucan, by telephone and other means on dates between May 1st, 2004, and July 14th, 2004.
Det Garda Noel Maher told Lisa Dempsey, prosecuting, that Mr Venev told gardaí that he had been having an affair with Ms Gilhooley since they met in Bulgaria in 1999 when she was on holiday with her husband. Giving evidence on the fifth day of the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Det Maher said Mr Venev told gardaí that Ms Gilhooley had brought a temporary halt to their sexual relationship in April 2004.
"I took it very painfully," Mr Venev said, explaining that he had not been eating, "just smoking" since she said she did not want to see him for a few months. He agreed with Det Maher that "when a relationship ends one cannot keep ringing and ringing".
He told gardaí that he had lived in her house for 18-19 months when he first arrived in Ireland in August 2000 after he secured a job and a work permit with her assistance. He denied she threw him out, claiming it was her husband who asked him to leave. He said Ms Gilhooley's husband knew he had a sexual relationship with his wife. He also told Det Maher that a large number of the phone calls were made because she asked him to call her.
Ms Gilhooley continuously denied in four consecutive days of cross-examination that she had an affair with Mr Venev and that she had written him love letters.
The hearing continues before Judge Kevin Haugh.