Neighbour and son got letters of harassment

Mary Sampier (60), 24 Whitestrand Park, Salthill, pleaded guilty before Galway District Court to harassing a man at Whitestrand Park on dates between February 10 and March 9 last.

She said she sent the notes because her husband had been assaulted previously by the complainant.

Garda Nora Brady gave evidence the accused had put notes and letters through the man’s letterbox and she had also left harassing notes on the windscreen of his son’s car.

Garda Brady said the man’s daughter worked for the HSE, as did the accused, and she received an email at work from the accused during the period of the harassment.

She said Sampier was co-operative at all stages of the investigation and made admissions about sending the letters and notes to her neighbours.

Judge Mary Fahy asked to see the letters and notes and read them without making any comment.

Garda Brady explained those concerned were next-door neighbours and they had not got on for 15 years. Down through the years, she said, there had been small, minor incidents about children and dogs.

Sampier pointed out that she had sent the notes from March 3 onwards and not in February.

Her solicitor said the notes had been sent in the space of a week.  He said his client had moved house because of this incident and she hoped to move to the US in the near future.

“There was a previous allegation of the complainant assaulting my client’s husband and she got upset and fixated on that,” the solicitor said.

He pointed out no charge had been brought against the complainant but that was the background to the notes. He said Sampier now realised she should not have sent the notes.

Handing a medical report into court, the solicitor said Sampier had a history of mental illness and had reported with anxiety after the incident.

Judge Fahy asked if the Gardaí had looked into the allegation of assault and she wanted to know if Sampier’s husband had made a complaint to Gardaí about it.

Garda Brady confirmed he only made the complaint after she began to investigate the offence before the court.

The solicitor pointed out that his client’s husband did make a informal complaint to Gardaí before this. Garda Brady explained Sampier’s husband did go into the garda station but he just wanted it noted.

“He didn’t follow it through.  He didn’t want anything done.  He just went to the front desk and wanted it noted,” she said.

Judge Fahy said to Sampier that what she did was not the way to deal with matters.

Sampier, who looked at times upset and distressed and stood wringing a hanky in her hands, replied:  “My husband is a very quiet man.  He is not a bitter man. I did the wrong thing.  He did complain to the Gardai.”

Judge Fahy reminded her that her husband did not want to make a formal complaint or give a statement to Gardai so nothing could be done.

In reply to Judge Fahy, Sampier said they had moved out of No. 24 Whitestrand Park and she would never set foot in that house again.

She said her mother-in-law lived in the US and she and her husband hoped to go and live there as soon as she retires from the HSE early next year.  She said they had somewhere else to live until then.

Hearing the accused had a clerical position in the HSE, Judge Fahy said she would have had some ida that her actions were not the way to go about something like this.

She explained to Sampier that she had to hear from the injured party to see how he was affected by her actions before she could finalise matters.

“She wishes to travel to the US and that will be taken ‘on board’ if possible but I have to give the injured party a chance to come in here and tell his story,” Judge Fahy said.

She then adjourned the matter to next Wednesday, November 25, to give the injured party a opportunity to come to court.

She said that he was being invited to attend to tell his side of the story and how he had been affected, but if he didn’t want to come into court, he didn’t have to.