A woman who made false claims to gardaí of murder, shooting, stabbing, and house fires, and of being with an abandoned baby, has been given a year to continue treatment for her compulsive behaviour before being sentenced.
Ann Lynch (37) Fortlawn Avenue, and who formerly lived in a caravan at Whitestown Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin had a history of ringing the 999 emergency number.
Sgt Michael Drew told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court she made 99 silent calls "with heavy breathing" on one night alone.
Lynch, described by Ms Caroline Biggs, her defence counsel, as "a fruit and nut case", pleaded guilty to a series of charges of making a false statement causing apprehension that persons and property might be damaged; false reports causing inconvenience; and to wastage of Garda resources, on various dates between February 2002 and October 2003.
Judge Yvonne Murphy told Ms Biggs her client was facing a lengthy sentence given the nature of the charges against her.
Judge Murphy praised how gardaí had handled the situation and noted that Lynch had wasted a large amount of Garda time. She said she was adjourning the sentence hearing to July 13th, 2006 on condition that Lynch continued treatment for her compulsive addiction under the Probation and Welfare Services and that she did not come to Garda attention in the meantime.
Mr Desmond Zaidan BL, prosecuting, said at an earlier hearing that she rang Santry Garda station in the early hours of July 17th, 2002 to report a murder that never occurred and made the 99 silent calls the same day.
Det Sgt Kevin Walsh told Mr Anthony Hunt BL that Lynch was not the woman who originally made the widely reported false claim on October 27th, 2003 that she had abandoned a baby in the Ballymun area in Dublin, but came on to the scene a day later.
Det Sgt Walsh said Lynch rang Ballymun Garda station seven times on the evening of October 28th, 2003 when the investigation into the case of the alleged abandoned baby was in full-swing.
When the calls were later traced to her, she denied she had been trying to gain media attention but agreed she was lonely and depressed and that her behaviour might have been "a call for help".