Infatuated young farmer who sent woman more than 1,000 messages charged with harassment

Stephen Maguire

A young Co Donegal farmer who became infatuated with a young woman, sending her more than 1,000 messages, has been charged with harassment.

Matthew Smyth pleaded guilty to harassing the young woman when he appeared at Letterkenny District Court.

Garda Tómas McMahon told the court that Smyth, of Dunross, Culdaff, bombarded the young woman with texts, videos and messages over the course of 2020.

When the woman ignored all the messages, Smyth finally took to Facebook and named her publicly.

In the message, Smyth said he used to like the woman but that he now hated her.

When asked by Judge Emile Daly what the 29-year-old accused had said specifically, Garda McMahon revealed the message read "F**k xxxxxxxx and everything she stands for."

Garda McMahon said the young woman, who is from Buncrana, never engaged with Smyth online.

The text messages began in January 2020 and the last one was sent on December 12th, 2020, but stopped when gardaí became involved.

Solicitor for the accused, Patsy Gallagher, told the court that his client's understanding of life may not be as advanced as others.

He put it to Garda McMahon that the messages to the victim were not malicious and the Garda agreed.

Garda McMahon also told the court that a victim impact statement on behalf of the woman was canvassed but that she did not provide one.

Solicitor Gallagher stressed that there was no physical aggression on his client's behalf and there was actually no physical contact between the accused and his victim.

"I would suggest this was a case of immature infatuation gone wrong, consistent messaging to the extreme," he said.

Gallagher added that his client comes from an isolated background and works on the family farm.

Garda Inspector Johnny Sweeney said the accused had three previous convictions which centred around the production of an article in the course of a dispute on the family farm.

Judge Daly asked the court if there had been any issue after gardaí had intervened and she was told there hadn't.

She adjourned the case until September 3rd for a Probation Report and sentencing.