A man who created a fake social media profile of a woman and directed men to come to her home for sex has been jailed for two years after a court heard that this was the second time he had waged a harassment campaign of this type against the victim.
Stephen Downey (30) from Lissadell, Maryborough Hill, Cork, pleaded guilty to harassing a woman on dates between March and April 2020.
Det Garda Aonghus Cotter told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Downey set up a fictitious social media profile of a woman and directed men to go to her home for sex. No details were given as to the nature and content of the profile.
In the region of 20 men were directed to go the home of the victim. However, just two individuals called to the house.
The men, who called to the home of the woman in Spring 2020, asked to speak to an individual with a different name to the injured party.
Trauma
Det Garda Cotter said the incident had caused the woman considerable trauma as two men had arrived at her home expecting sex.
Judge Sean O'Donnabhain was told that the man was arrested in June 2020. He fully co-operated with gardaí and admitted his crime.
The court was told that Downey has six previous convictions. He has three previous convictions for sexual assault in 2008 after he approached random women in Cork city and grabbed them in the buttocks and breasts. He received a suspended sentence on this occasion.
Det Garda Cotter said that in November 2015 Mr Downey was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to three counts of harassment.
Catfishing
He harassed a woman by creating a fake social media profile and apparently using an image of a pornographic model to include alongside the legitimate photos because the woman resembled the victim.
He had copied the images of the victim from her legitimate social media site and used them to create another fake site he had created, in a practice known as "catfishing."
These pictures were then shared with over 1,000 men through social media. Up to 30 men were directed to a particular house in Cork.
Another woman lived at this address with her partner. This couple found men calling to their house. One man appeared to be high and another sat outside their house for three hours.
Today at Cork Circuit Criminal court the victim in this case, who was also the target of Mr Downey's harassment in 2015, handed in a victim impact to the court which she did not want it read out. She was present in court for the hearing.
Harassment
Det Garda Cotter said that the harassment had weighted heavily on her as this was the second time she had been subjected to an ordeal courtesy of the defendant.
Barrister Sinead Behan, defending, said that the family of her client were "appalled" at his offences. She said that they were "devastated" but stood by him.
She stressed Mr Downey had gone for counselling and was now undertaking zoom consultations with medical professionals because of the Covid-19 restrictions.
She appealed for leniency in the case because of the guilty plea and the co-operation of her client with gardaí. She said that Downey had always held down full-time employment.
She stressed that her client was keen to express his remorse to the victim. Ms Behan said he was engaged in therapy and "anxious to address his issues."
The court heard that Downey was of moderate to high risk of re-offending.
Appalling
Judge Sean O'Donnabhain said Downey had engaged in a disturbing harassment of the victim by setting up a false profile and directing men to her house. He said that the person of the victim and her house was "invaded in an appalling manner" in a repeat of the offences of 2015.
Judge O'Donnabhain said that the behaviour of Downey was "intrustive and abusive".
He stated structures had been put in place following the release of the defendant from prison on the last occasion but that Downey had failed to rehabilitate himself.
Judge O'Donnabhain said that Downey had relapsed significantly in 2020.
"His level of empathy for his victim is non-existent. The victim needs to be protected."
Taking the nature of the abuse and the directing of men to the home of the victim in to account he jailed him for four years suspending the last two years of the sentence.
Downey will fall under the care of the probation service when he is released from prison. He was warned to have no contact indirect or direct with the victim for an indefinite period.
