A chef who carried out a persistent campaign of harassment against a Co Galway primary schoolteacher and her mother was described as "evil, cunning, perverse and twisted" by a judge who sentenced him to three years in prison at Galway Circuit Court yesterday.
In the first such circuit court conviction under new harassment legislation introduced in 1997, Selliah Ramachchandran, with an address at 5 Orpen Close, Stillorgan Grove, Dublin, vehemently denied he had harassed primary schoolteacher Ms Geraldine Fahy (26), and her mother, Mrs Maura Fahy, from Rathbane, Ardrahan, Co Galway, by persistently communicating with them on various dates between May and July 1997.
Evidence in the case was first heard last January and sentencing was adjourned to yesterday's court. Passing sentence, Judge Harvey Kenny said Ramachchandran had carried out an intense and persistent campaign of harassment against the Fahy family, whom he described as decent, good people.
The judge said the accused man had persecuted the family with lies and filthy, perverse correspondence for which he had never shown
remorse. The nature of the material, the judge said, showed the accused man had no respect for the Fahy women and women generally.
Last January the jury took just 40 minutes to convict Ramachchandran and he was remanded in custody. In the meantime Ramachchandran, who is Sri Lankan and who has been living in Ireland for the past 18 years, was released on bail by the Supreme Court.
The Fahy family, who had given evidence last January, were not in court yesterday. In January the court heard how Ms Geraldine Fahy had fled to Australia to get away from the chef's unwanted attentions. She had turned from being an outgoing person to one who was afraid to be left alone. Her physical and mental health had suffered and she had to leave her job and emigrate to get away from Ramachchandran.
In court yesterday the chef told Judge Kenny he was appealing his conviction to the Supreme Court and he wanted a retrial, as the jury, whom, he said, comprised "so-called middle-class, half-ignorant, half-educated people", were prejudiced against him.
The judge refused application for bail and leave to appeal. He also restrained him from coming within a 25-mile radius of Ardrahan on his release.