*The harassment took place in June 2020.
A JUDGE has imposed a prison term of 22 months on a West Clare man for carrying out an eight day “campaign of harassment” via Facebook against a serving Garda.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed the 22 month prison term with the final 14 months suspended on father of four, Jason Downes (31) for the harassment of Garda David (Daithí) King in June 2020.
Imposing the eight month jail term, Judge Comerford said that Mr Downes was “callous in seeking to cause private distress for Garda King” by making his “anonymous slurs”.
Judge Comerford said that though Mr Downes’s harassment of Garda King did not last for a protracted period, it was “nasty”.
In the case, a jury last November returned a majority 10-2 guilty verdict where Mr Downes of St Michael’s Place Kilmihil, Co Clare was accused of harassing Garda King by persistently communicating with him on dates between June 6th and June 16th 2020 and thereby causing him alarm and distress contrary to Section 10 of Non Fatal Offences Against The Person Act.
Judge Comerford said that prior to the harassment, there was interaction between Gardaí and members of the Downes family that involved the Garda seizure of a car and Garda King was one of the Gardaí involved.
Judge Comerford said that he was satisfied that the Facebook posts constituted harassment communications against a member of the Gardaí who carried out duties in a proper manner.
Mr Downes also sent a message via Facebook messenger to Garda King’s wife, Ciara Bohan containing ‘nasty messages’ about Garda King.
Judge Comerford said that the communication was calculated to hurt Garda King’s marriage and that didn’t have any impact at all as Garda King’s strong marriage was able to withstand the false communications.
Judge Comerford said that the means of harassment was reasonably sophisticated where Mr Downes used a mobile phone with two SIM cards in order to avoid detection.
In a letter to court, Mr Downes apologised to Garda King and his wife, primary school teacher, Ciara Bohan.
Mr Downes said that he wanted to apologise to Garda King and to Ciara Bohan “for upsetting them and causing them pain and stress caused by this situation”.
Mr Downes said that he accepted the jury’s guilty verdict and said “I made wrong choices”.
Judge Comerford said that the apology wasn’t of great mitigation as the apology was somewhat pro-forma and impersonal compared to the very personal slurs he articulated in his harassing communications
Judge Comerford imposed a headline 32 month prison term on Mr Downes.
Judge Comerford said that Mr Downes wasn’t of good character due to previous convictions and since then has committed further offences including possession of drugs for sale and supply.
Judge Comerford said that some aspects of Mr Downes’ life are worthy of some degree of respect as he holds down a job as a delivery driver to support his family.
Reducing the headline sentence, Judge Comerford said that there is potential for Jason Downes to work as a diligent member of society and provide for his family.
Judge Comerford said that any sentence must be immediate as Mr Downes lied to Gardaí when questioned about the harassment and then sought to rely on the lies before a jury.
Judge Comerford said that with 25 percent remission, Mr Downes may serve around six months in jail.
In a victim impact statement in court, Garda King said that Mr Downes “acted like a coward and concocted lies about me” on a fake Facebook account.
Garda King said that Jason Downes “had no regard for his actions and the effect they could potentially have”.
In his victim impact statement, Garda King told the court that he has worked in the West Clare area since 2017 and he built up good working relationships with people from all areas of the community.
He said, “This incident meant that people in the community have lost trust in a member of An Garda Siochana they would previously have turned to in a time of need”.
Garda King said, “After this incident I had to start again to build up a good reputation in the community I serve. Despite this, the comments made in these Facebook posts are still mentioned to me by some members of the public on a regular basis to this day”.
Garda King said that after he had deleted his social media accounts in 2020, Mr Downes then contacted his wife via Facebook messenger making false allegations about him.
He said, “If it were not for the strong relationship and deep trust I share with my wife, these allegations could have had a serious effect on our marriage”.
In evidence in the trial last November, Ciara Bohan told the jury how she was left ‘nervous and scared’ over “nasty” comments made about her husband from the anonymous Facebook account.
Ms Bohan said that she was left “upset and vulnerable” over the anonymous Facebook messenger messages she received about her husband, Garda King in June 2020.
Ms Bohan was seven months pregnant at the time and also had a toddler at home when she received messages from a Facebook profile with the name Tommy Teirnan, spelt wrong.
In one message received on her own Facebook account on June 16th 2020, it said ‘tell your husband he is only a shitty arse coward. I will find out more about him and when I do, he will be very sorry”.
Ms Bohan said that her husband is well respected amongst his peers and “then to receive the nasty messages and nasty sentiments expressed by someone, it is very hurtful”.
