A sandwich-seller is to pay "substantial" compensation for posting the name and personal details of a business rival on a website advertising the services of prostitutes, a court heard today.
Ms Maureen Walker, a mother-of-two from Castlerea in Co Roscommon told the circuit court hearing in Westport in Co Mayo she had undergone a "woman's worst nightmare" when over two days she received calls from more than 100 men seeking to have sex with her.
|
Like Ms Walker, Mr Francis Kenny (40) from Ballyhaunis in Co Mayo ran a sandwich business in Castlerea and admitted to gardaí after his arrest last May he had posted his business rival's details on a website advertising "escorts".
Judge Carroll Moran said: "What the accused did to this injured party was dreadful. It caused unforgivable distress. What he was up to one can't imagine.
"The injured party has been very fair. She wanted to ensure above all that this would never happen again."
The court heard today Mr Kenny had now agreed to pay compensation in excess of the £10,000 he had offered Ms Walker at a previous hearing.
In March the court was told how Mr Kenny placed an advertisement headed"Exclusive Maureen" - a reference to Ms Walker's Exclusive Sandwiches business - on the Escort Ireland website and gave details of the services she would provide, which included S&M, "water games" and threesomes.
That afternoon she received a call from a man asking if she operated throughout the west of Ireland and she replied that she did but when she said she operated a sandwich business, he hung up.
She told the court: "It was a woman's worst nightmare when a man rang looking for the services of a prostitute. The phone never stopped for two days - I got more than 100 phone calls."
One of the callers had not barred his caller identification and she called him back. After convincing him she was not a call girl the would-be client told Ms Walker how he had come by her mobile telephone number.
She then contacted theGarda and Sgt John Hynes called at Mr Kenny's home. Initially he denied any involvement but when told his computer was to be seized he admitted responsibility.
He was subsequently charged under the 1961 Defamation Act of 1961 in what is the first case before the State's courts involving a Internet libel.
Mr Kenny, who had set up a business called Fresh Cuts in 1998, knew Ms Walker was delivering sandwiches to two of his customers and said he had heard that she was claiming he was not registered with the regional health board, that he was a cowboy and that her sandwiches were better.
Ms Walker denied the allegations.
Mr Kenny, who is married with two children, and 10, offered to pay £10,000 to Ms Walker in compensation, which Judge Moran then described as "totally inadequate".
Today, the judge said in accepting the renewed offer of compensation, Ms Walker - who has 17-year-old son and a daughter aged 15 - had been "very fair".
"She said she was concerned about the fate of the two children of the accused man."
He said Mr Kenny, who had no previous convictions, had produced "exemplary testimonials" and was a hard-working man. "The court may impose an order directing compensation as well as or in lieu of punishment."
It had been agreed the accused should pay an undisclosed sum to his victim but the judge said he was at liberty to say it was a "substantial" amount.
Counsel for Mr Kenny requested the judge apply the Probation Act which would mean there was no conviction, though the case would lie on record.
Judge Moran ordered Mr Kenny to return to court next Friday and indicated he would sentence him as "suggested" if the amount was paid by then.
PA