Woman accused of extortion when at school sues for defamation

A woman who was falsely accused of wrongdoing when she was a 15-year-old student yesterday started High Court proceedings in which she is suing the school and An Garda Síochána for defamation.

Lydia O’Hara was a Junior Cert student at Scoil Chríost Rí­ in Portlaoise in March 2004 when a “nightmare” began involving a false allegation by another student.

This student claimed money had been regularly extorted from her by three girls at breaktime in the bike shed.

The school later issued a number of apologies to Ms O’Hara, including one read out at assembly, the court heard.

Ms O’Hara, now aged 25 and a mother of one with an address in Portlaoise, is suing the school board of management and Garda Commissioner, alleging defamation, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional and physical harm.

The school denies those claims and says, when a serious allegation is made, it has to manage the school in order to protect the interests of students.

Gardaí deny she was detained and plead that they must investigate serious allegations such as extortion.

Self-harm As a result of the false allegation, Ms O’Hara told the jury she had tried to take her own life, self-harmed, suffered from panic attacks in public, had to undergo counselling and is still on medication for depression.

She said she had been a happy, bubbly girl, involved in basketball and going out with her friends before the incident but after it became a “hermit”.

“I just had no will to live.”

The court heard that a first-year pupil’s mother had written to the school alleging that her daughter had been the victim of extortion for about six months involving some €1,000. She also made a complaint to gardaí.

Martin Giblin SC, with Cormac Quinn (instructed by David Walley and Co), said the school allowed gardaí to set up a “sting” operation in which a marked €20 note was put into the school bike shed but there was a failure to observe who went to the shed at 11am that day.

Ms O’Hara, who found herself the innocent victim of this sting, was at that time outside the principal’s office waiting to get permission to go home early as she was not feeling well, counsel said.

Principal Ms O’Hara told the court the school secretary had said she would find the principal, Helen O’Donnell, out in the yard.

She left her schoolbag on the floor outside the office while she went looking for the principal, met the vice-principal on the way and was told to return to the office and someone would be back to her shortly, she said.

Schoolbag The principal, Ms O’Donnell, approached her, asked her her name and then asked her to come into her office with her, she said. The principal also asked whether a schoolbag on the floor was hers and told her to pick it up. When she did, there was a folded €20 note underneath, and she was told to pick that up too and hand it to the principal.

At that point, two plainclothes gardaí, John Healy and Fiona McGrath, followed them into the principal’s office, she said. Garda Healy asked her did she know what was going on and she said she did not.

They told her there was an allegation the €20 was extorted from another student but they would not say who it was.

“I was just dumbfounded. I thought it was all a joke but they said: ‘No, Ms O’Hara, we are very serious.’”

When Garda Healy read her rights to her, telling her anything she said may be used against her, she knew she was in trouble. “I felt smothered and suffocated in a room with three people in authority.”

Her parents were called and brought her home and later that day, Garda Healy came to their home, she said.  “He just looked at me and said: ‘Young lady, you are owed a very big apology, the girl is after admitting to making it all up’.”

“I just burst out crying and said: ‘I told you I did not do it.”

Garda Healy then handed her the marked €20 note and told her “to buy some phone credit”, she said.

Some days later an apology was read out at school assembly which just referred to rumours about her which were not true, she said.

A more extensive apology was later read out at assembly, and an apology was sent by the board of management to her parents.

The hearing continues.