A man who posted personal details of his former partner on his Facebook page and invited the public to let him know if they saw her or his child, was fined €750 for breaching a barring order at Galway District Court yesterday.
Keith Heenan (39), Mervue, Galway, pleaded guilty to contravening a barring order and trespassing a number of times at his partner’s home and causing criminal damage last year and this year.
During the lengthy hearing yesterday, Mr Heenan said he had posted the data on Facebook out of frustration at not being given access to his child. He said he posted the data for five or six hours and then thought better of it and took it down. “I just wanted to lash out and it was sheer stupidity.”
He denied a suggestion by Judge Mary Fahy that he still “held a candle” for his former partner. Judge Fahy advised him to accept the relationship was over.
He said he had accepted that a long time ago. “I couldn’t care less if I never saw her again,” he said.
Judge Fahy spoke to the man’s ex-partner. She said she did not believe the woman was in fear of Heenan at all as she had once called to his home to serve legal papers on him.
The judge called on both of them to sort things out for their child’s sake.