Man, who woman says ‘stalked’ her for a decade, consents to orders

A man described as having "serious psychological issues" has consented to High Court orders preventing him intimidating, watching, pestering or communicating with a woman who claims he has "stalked" her online for almost a decade.

The woman brought High Court proceedings against the man claiming she feared for her safety due to upsetting and extremely frightening online messages.

She said the unwanted communications, in the form of e-mails and messages via social media platforms, commenced when they were at the same third level college together some years ago.

She claims her only personal interaction with the man occurred when they were at college and part of a group doing a presentation.

Neither of the parties can be identified for legal reasons.

Earlier this month, Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds granted the woman permission to serve notice on the man of injunction proceedings.

On Tuesday, lawyers for the man said he was consenting to final orders, including injunctions, restraining him intimidating, harassing, threatening or communicating with the woman in his own name or by using an alias.

The man’s lawyers also said he has “serious psychological issues.”

The judge, who noted the woman brought the action as a last resort due to the manner in which gardaí had dealt with the issue, granted the orders.

In her action, the woman said the only interaction she ever had with the man was almost a decade ago when both were members of a small college group that did a class presentation together.

After receiving messages from the man, she asked him to leave her alone.

Despite initially indicating he had no intention of messaging her again, he did contact her on other occasions, causing her anxiety and sleep difficulties, she said.

After graduating from college, she continued to get unsettling messages from bogus accounts which she believed were set up by the defendant.

Over the years, she said the man had in his messages told her he had “very strong feelings” about her, felt “entitled to further contact with her”, wanted a relationship with her and “loved” her.

In several recent emails, she said he accused her of being a “monster”, ignoring his feelings, dismissing his trauma and falsifying a police report about him.

Those emails were very upsetting and caused her to fear for her personal safety, she said.

Over the years, she has made complaints to gardaí and other bodies, including the authorities at the college she and the man had attended, she also said.