A 21-year-old man has been remanded in custody for sentence after he became obsessed with a young woman whom he threatened to kill.
The court had previously heard he had said he would tie her up and “chop her open” after she told him she no longer wanted contact with him.
Ruairí Lally, who has been diagnosed with severe autism, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to the young woman on September 27th 2025.
Det Sgt Pat Lyons told the court Lally had met the young woman through mutual friends and had gone to a concert with her in April 2023, but she became concerned about his behaviour on the night and told him that she didn’t want to see him or have any contact with him.
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Lally, of Wainsfort, Rochestown Road, Cork, continued to text her despite her insisting that she didn’t want to hear from him and in December 2023, she went to gardaí and made a complaint about him harassing her which led to him being charged and convicted of harassment.
Lally was sentenced by Judge Sinead Behan on July 22nd 2024 to two years in jail with one year suspended. One of the conditions of the suspension was that he be on good behaviour and have no contact directly or indirectly with the young woman upon his release from prison.
However, he resumed texting the young woman upon his release and on September 4th 2025 gardaí obtained a civil restraining order at Cork District Court restraining him from having any contact with the woman until September 2028.
Lally had engaged with the Probation Service upon his release from jail but his probation officer became concerned when he texted her on September 27th about the young woman, saying, “I’m going to hurt her badly” and “chop her open and stab her to death”.
He later sent the probation officer a screenshot of a message that he had typed up but not sent to the young woman in which he said: “We’re going to hurt you seriously, tie you up and kick you to death, getting you chopped and murdered and enjoy every second of it.”
The probation officer immediately made contact with gardaí and three days later on September 30th, Lally presented at Togher Garda station where he was arrested and interviewed. He subsequently admitted sending the messages to the probation officer.
The judge asked Lyons if he thought Lally would have carried out the threats against the young woman and Lyons said that he wasn’t sure, but Lally told him that he wanted to go back to prison and would do anything to achieve that.
He said Lally did not have the woman’s address, but he knew the area where she worked and where she went to college and had been walking around those areas and he [Lyons] would have serious concerns that if Lally met her inadvertently, he could harm her.
“He is obsessed with her, and she is terrified of him,” said Lyons as he handed in a victim impact statement to the judge, adding that the young woman did not want to come to court. “She doesn’t want to be in the same room as him,” he said.
He said Lally has two previous convictions – one for the original harassment of the young woman and one for possession of a knife when he turned up at Cork District Court during one of the remand hearings on the harassment charge when gardaí found him with the weapon.
Defence barrister, Elaine Audley, said Lally, who has had an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, had pleaded guilty and in mitigation she pointed out he had presented to gardaí and made admissions. He also had some insight into his offending and was remorseful for it.
The judge said she had concerns about what supports were available for Lally upon his release from prison and she noted that consultant psychiatrist, Prof Gautam Gulati, had recommended he be assessed by a forensic psychologist with an expertise in autism.
She noted Lally’s parents were unable to deal with him as he was currently presenting, and said she needed to know what accommodation and support would be available to Lally upon his release from prison.
She directed the preparation of a psychiatric report on him.
“I will adjourn it to see what supports are available ... if this man is released from prison without supports, he is going to be in difficulty, the public is going to be in difficulty,” said Behan as she adjourned the matter until March 5th, and remanded Lally in continuing custody.
