Blackmail among claims made in Conamara court case involving warring couple
Allegations of blackmail using covert recordings, and accusations of being a Garda informant were among the unproven claims made during a domestic violence court case heard in Conamara last week.
A self-employed man, who applied to Derrynea District Court for a Safety Order, claimed he feared his ex-partner.
The woman, who denied all allegations, said she wanted nothing to do with her ex, and just wanted to move on with her life.
She told Judge Fiona Lydon she was afraid of her ex, whom she claimed was jealous and controlling during their brief relationship.
The court heard she had sought court protection from the man in a different county.
The couple lived together briefly in a Conamara Gaeltacht village until they split acrimoniously last December. Neither party can be identified for legal reasons.
Represented by solicitor Fidelma Bane, the man applied for a Safety Order at Derrynea District Court.
The man claimed his former partner secretly recorded him on at least six occasions without his permission at home in his apartment.
He claimed his former partner sent the recordings to at least two other people who used them to blackmail him.
He alleged that he lost out on a position within an organisation he was involved with due to the woman’s alleged actions.
The man claimed she made false allegations that he was a Garda informant.
The man claimed he secretly recorded the woman threatening she would “f**k you up”.
Twice during the lengthy hearing, the man referred to allegations made by the woman’s friend at a previous court sitting that the recordings allegedly used for blackmail were “sex tapes”.
But his solicitor, Ms Bane said there were no videos, and it was clarified to Judge Lydon that the case centred on voice recordings only.
Represented by solicitor Caitriona Vine, the woman, in her evidence, recalled the day she left him last December.
When she was in bed with her dog, and didn’t answer her phone to him, she claimed he climbed in her bedroom window and “flung my dog out the door”.
She claimed that during their brief relationship he falsely accused her of cheating and monitored her phone activity. Once he accused her of stealing money from his bank.
In one recording, she said the man shouted at her, and called her a “dumb bitch” and “trailer trash”.
The woman encouraged the court to listen to the recordings, which Judge Lydon said were central to his case but the man did not want them played.
He claimed he was threatened and blackmailed by third parties, ‘proxies,’ who obtained the recordings from his ex and were acting on her behalf.
After a brief adjournment, Ms Bane and Ms Vine confirmed the duo reached a compromise: both would destroy the recordings in their possession and have no contact with each other, including on social media.
Judge Lydon struck out the Safety Order application.