An East Cork man who mounted a campaign of harassment against a member of An Garda Síochána made false claims of sexual assault to the Garda Ombudsman, the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice and An Taoiseach and now he has been jailed for 18 months.
Judge Helen Boyle imposed a sentence of two years with the last six months suspended in the case of 29-year-old Derek O’Mahony of Meadowlands, Bloomfield, Midleton, County Cork.
Inspector Roisín O’Dea said it all began when the officer encountered the defendant back in October 2020 and carried out a routine drugs search.
“Derek O’Mahony then made a vexatious report that the member of An Garda Síochána sexually assaulted him during the drugs search,” Insp O’Dea testified at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
After that, there were constant phone calls to the garda's local garda station by O’Mahony labelling the officer as a sex offender and a corrupt policeman.
The injured party received a handwritten letter from Derek O’Mahony in March 2021 where he apologised for his actions since October 2020.
The Garda Ombudsman notified the injured party that the complaint by O’Mahony was no longer being investigated by them.
False allegations
But soon after this, the defendant began making phone calls to the garda station again, making the same vexatious, false allegations.
As recently as April 29 this year the officer woke to an Instagram notification and there followed 51 messages from Derek O’Mahony in 15 minutes.
“He accused him...
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