A 34-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, who was covertly recorded naked while showering in her home, has been awarded €50,000 damages against a former housemate.

Barrister Doireann O’Mahony told Judge James O’Donohoe in the Circuit Civil Court today that Leanne Daly’s life had been devastated by Anthony Dunne, who had been in a relationship with her mother-in-law and had spent a lot of time in their home.

O’Mahony, who appeared with Lisa McKenna of McKenna Solicitors, told the court that Daly had not sought anonymity at a criminal trial, at which Dunne had been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at the Circuit Criminal court in 2022.

A judge was told that Daly, of Clondalkin, Dublin 22, was also not seeking anonymity during her civil claim for damages.

Daly cried when Judge O’Donohoe told her he was awarding her €50,500 damages against Dunne – for what he described as a wicked and horrible breach of her privacy by someone she trusted.

Her barrister said she knew absolutely nothing about the recordings for several months during 2020, and only found out about them when approached by gardaí who had been investigating Dunne in relation to similar activities relating to another woman at work.

Daly told the court she was shocked, distressed and scared when gardaí showed her intimate images of her in photographs Dunne had taken of her in the shower.

He had pleaded guilty at the trial and had been sentenced to a year in prison with three months of the sentence suspended.

She told Judge O’Donohoe she had been horrified and felt completely violated, continuing to suffer from mental distress and psychological damage.

Her quality of life had been destroyed and, after losing a lot of weight, literally felt a shadow of the person she had been.

What had been particularly distressing to her was that she had become fearful and distrustful of other people in her life, and now going to a bathroom or showering triggers frightening thoughts.

Daly’s doctor, Dr Suzanne Farrell, told the court: “The uneasiness she experiences when sharing the suspicion she feels around people she would automatically have trusted will never fully resolve and unfortunately she will probably have to live with these feelings for the rest of her life.”

Dunne, of Hazelmere, Naas, Co Kildare, told the court he had made several attempts to settle the case but his offers of compensation had been refused. He said he had failed to attend court on an earlier occasion because he did not know the case was on.

He said he had pleaded guilty in the criminal court to offences related to photographing Daly.

Judge O’Donohoe said Daly had not suffered any physical injury and the court was only assessing the psychological damage caused to her to date and into the future.