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A DETECTIVE FOUND guilty of harassing a State solicitor by sending her abusive letters has been jailed for three years.
Judge Melanie Greally said that while Eve Doherty, 50, is considered at low risk of re-offending she maintains her innocence and has shown no remorse for the crimes.
Doherty, with an address in Blackglen Road, Sandyford, Dublin, was found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of harassing Elizabeth Howlin between September 2011 and March 2013 following a two-week trial last July.
She was found not guilty of two counts of making false statements on two dates in March 2012, in which she claimed Howlin was perverting the course of justice.
At the time in question, Howlin worked with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) where she was involved in deciding whether or not to direct prosecutions in criminal cases. Doherty held the position of detective sergeant and worked in the crime and security division of An Garda Siochana.
The trial heard that over an 18-month period, letters and emails were sent to Howlin’s home, her place of work and to her GP calling her a “corrupt bitch”, an “incompetent useless hobbit” and a “two-faced bitch”.
Victim impact statement
The court heard Howlin didn’t know Doherty until the trial and that Doherty was then in a relationship with the victim’s ex-partner. A victim impact statement was handed to the court from Howlin but was not read out.
Judge Greally said the communications by Doherty contained outright and scurrilous lies. They contained statements which were variously disparaging, insulting and offensive, both in a personal and professional manner.
She noted that at the time, Doherty had come into conflict with garda management and was under considerable stress. She said that the death of Doherty’s mother had a profound effect on her and she had never entirely come to terms with that loss.
A medical report stated that she continues to suffer from suicidal ideation and noted a decline in her cognitive functioning. She suffers from paranoia and believes that the evidence in the trial was fabricated by gardai to frame her.
Kerida Naidoo SC, prosecuting, said Doherty sent emails from a Dublin city centre internet cafe to hundreds of recipients using anonymous email accounts. The court heard she holds a degree in Cybercrime and diplomas in Psychology and Legal Studies.
Following a garda investigation that involved contacting the Canadian email server company, Hushnet, gardaí tracked down the internet cafe from which the emails were being sent. Doherty was arrested after she sent an anonymous email from the cafe while wearing sunglasses and a wig.
As well as letters and emails, Doherty dispensed leaflets around Howlin’s housing estate, falsely claiming that Howlin was a political appointee and that she would “pull” files to prevent the prosecution of anyone connected to her or the government. Howlin is a distant cousin of the TD and labour party leader, Brendan Howlin.
Psychological report
Doherty was suspended from An Garda Siochana but is currently still a serving member of the force, the court previously heard. After her arrest, she spent a month in St John of God psychiatric hospital. She has no previous convictions.
Defence counsel, Michael O’Higgins SC, said Doherty had a “singular ambition” to become a garda and she rose through the ranks to the level of detective sergeant.
“It was a job and a career which, for the most part, she found enriching and rewarding,” O’Higgins said.
He said Doherty had a difficult work environment and had some “fractious” relationships within the job, due in part to her “complete lack of diplomacy” with regard to her thoughts on how things were run.
A 13-page psychological report was handed to court, which found Doherty suffered from severe work-related stress, depression, anxiety, paranoia and suicidal ideation. She suffers from nightmares, insomnia, headaches and chest pain and is on antidepressant medication, the court heard.
“This is not something that can be explained simply by malice or badness,” O’Higgins said, adding it was a “complicated” case involving psychological issues.
He said the offence was committed by a person who was suffering from depression, paranoia and significant levels of stress.
“That goes some way in my submission to analysing the content and understanding it better,” he said.
O’Higgins said the content of the material was “nasty” but he urged Judge Greally to also consider Doherty’s prior “exemplary” character.
A number of character references were handed up in court, including one from a retired detective sergeant who worked with Doherty. The court heard she loves dogs and has been involved in dog rescues in the past.
“She has a good and productive life and she has done good and productive things,” O’Higgins said.
“She has spread great kindness in her life to other people.”
Judge Greally rejected a defence submission to impose a suspended sentence, noting the lack of a guilty plea and the lack of any evident remorse.
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Why are comments being disabled on the majority of articles?
@DK: Why? Why is it in any way important whether an asylum seeker is single???
@Aidy McBride: It’s a shame, as I, like most people I would imagine, only come here for the comments. The actual news delivery isn’t great so if there’s no comments I can’t see The Journal lasting long.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: single as in coming on their own here and not as part of a family unit but you new that didn’t you? Just trying to deflect for some reason. Are these men going to want sexual relationships with women here? How many women in Ireland are going to want sexual relationships with asylum seekers, let’s be honest? Do you not think this might lead to issues down the road if we get 50k male asylum seekers every year and about 5k of women? Need to have some adult conversations in this country but too many like to try their best avoid it with deflection like yours and throwing around the racist word.
@DK: Jeez! How sexist can a comment get! You don’t seem tobe worried at all about the 5k women wanting ‘sexual relations’ with good Irish men!
@sean o’dhubhghaill: What’s sexist in my comment. Well those women will have a load of male asylum seekers to choose from if they so wish, not so much choice for the males.
@The next small thing: You’re on to something.
@Aidy McBride: Because of your incessant incendiary remarks.
@The next small thing: Either government or some such like intervention to stifle free speech seen as dangerous, and/or the emerging left liberal stance as seen in the previous iteration of Twitter. If one has to stifle free speech and a possible alternative viewpoint, one doubts ones own point of view.
@Aidy McBride: I guess the Journal doesn’t like free speech, however constructive. ‘The shape of things to come’.
@DK: men are being demonised and portrayed like animals! And that seems to be ok… WOW!! In the era of pc and being easily offended, it seems to be open season when it comes to passing remark on men.
Well what we have learned is that the middle are still being squeezed lifeless.
Voting in chancers like Haughey+Bertie was always going to end in tears. Bertie bought 2007 GE and people voted him in despite knowing about his ‘dig outs’. We as voters own the crash too.
Same with Johnson, Trump, Bolsonara.
@James Gorman: FF and Jack Lynch ‘bought’ the 1977 election too, and we, as a nation, are STILL suffering from and struggling with the mad decision to abolish local rates.
I know loads of people in Brand new houses that don’t and never have worked..They seem to squeeze in a feed of pints every day though.
@Redseat92: That’s our politicians for you. Mind you, those are subsidised pints.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Most underrated comment!
Still paying for it via austerity taxes, (property tax an usc)and those born during the time the banks needed us to give them a loan are about to join the workforce and will also be paying for that bailout.
Also it was only around 2016/17 when markets normalised, not 2013. And we still await taxes normalising. So we are essentially living in those times.
Great nuanced well researched article.
More of this please
@Niamh Hayes: Haha.
My heart bleeds for the squeezed middle and working poor I ALMOST can’t blame them when they turn septic and declare themselves a single parent and go on the housing list.
How can they ever afford a house when they have to compete with councils buying units to give away to welfare tourists.
have your say