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A JUDGE HAS said she is “truly horrified” by the actions of a disgruntled golfer who led an eight-year campaign of abuse against a former manager of Druids Glen Golf Club.
Ms Justice Sinéad Ní Chulacháin made the comments at the end of a hearing in Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court where Niall Barry (74) of Coolnawee, Hillside, Greystones, Co Wicklow was being sentenced.
Barry had pleaded guilty to one count of sending harmful communications contrary to Section 4 of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related offences Act 2020. Known as Coco’s Law the legislation deals with online incidents.
The court heard that the case centres around Barry, a local businessman, and his campaign of harassment and intimidation of a former manager at Druids Glen Golf Club and Resort.
Marcus Doyle, the injured party in the case, was subjected to hundreds of abusive tweets, emails and messages posted by Barry.
The court heard from investigating garda Derek Kelly that the businessman had become angry after a complaint he made about Druids Glen Golf Club was dismissed.
Prosecuting barrister Jim Kelly said to the Judge that Golf Ireland had investigated the complaint, but they found no case to answer for the club.
The court heard that a members’ meeting took place at the club where it was discussed and Barry was excluded from the club shortly afterwards. The barrister explained that following the meeting the minutes of the conference were disseminated to members by Marcus Doyle. This, the court heard, was what sparked Barry’s campaign.
It was said that there were volumes of messages, tweets and emails found by the garda investigator in which Barry targeted Doyle between 10 February 2021 30 December 2023.
Garda Kelly told the court that Barry sent derogatory emails to 150 Irish golf clubs about Marcus Doyle. Tweets, which the investigator obtained under an order from Twitter, now known as X, also showed a catalogue of harassment with many simply identifying the victim as a “weasel”. There was also abusive language towards Doyle.
The tweets tagged employers and other people and the court heard they attacked Doyle’s competence and capability to do his job.
While this evidence was being given Judge Ní Chúlacháin interjected and said she was “shocked” at the scale of the messages.
The court heard that Doyle’s employment was greatly impacted by the harassment. Barry had attended at the victim’s workplace and had verbally attacked him in front of colleagues.
The investigating garda, during his enquiries, examined the tweets and found that they had been viewed by at times, up to 1,000 people.
In an emotional victim impact statement to the court Marcus Doyle outlined the effect of the harassment campaign on him.
He told the Judge that while the charges relate to incidents that started in 2021 the harassment actually began in 2017.
Doyle said it was across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and email. He said the messages were “nothing short of vile, defamatory and deeply damaging”.
“The impact on my mental health and personal life has been devastating. The constant abuse caused me enormous distress, severe anxiety, and a feeling of total helplessness.
“I required medication to manage my anxiety and my sleep, appetite and overall wellbeing were all seriously affected.
“The harassment also took a significant toll on my relationship at the time, with us ultimately separating,” he told the court.
Marcus Doyle said the harassment had “catastrophic consequences” with the false and defamatory claims following him throughout his career. Doyle told the court that during an interview in 2020 for a new job he was challenged by the interviewer about the Barry campaign. He believes he failed to get the job because of that.
Doyle said when he left Druids Glen Golf Club he felt that he “might have a chance of a fresh start”. But Barry continued attacking him at his new workplace he said.
“I have had to fight to maintain my career, and my sanity in the face of what can only be described as targeted, vindictive persecution,” he added.
Barrister for Barry, Michael Bowman SC, told the court that his client was sorry for the hurt he had caused. He said that Barry was willing to make a payment of €25,000 to the victim.
Bowman said the money was a “token of remorse” – he also handed in two testimonials from people speaking highly of Barry.
Ms Justice Sinéad Mi Chúlacháin, in sentencing, spoke of her shock and said the actions of Barry were “quite extraordinary”. She addressed Marcus Doyle directly and said that she was “truly horrified” by the evidence.
“It is quite hard to fathom the level of harassment. The level to which Mr Barry was abusive and vile – it is quite hard for me to fathom,” she said.
The judge said the offending was at the “highest range” of the offence and said it was “very serious”.
She noted Barry’s lack of previous convictions, took into consideration the letters of support and his offer of a payment. She sentenced the accused to 18 months imprisonment but suspended it in its entirety.
She banned Barry from contacting the victim for ten years and directed him to delete all social media posts.
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