A woman in her 70s is on trial in Tralee accused of harassing a man by making repeated phone calls to him over a five-month period.
74-year-old Kate Burgess, of 14 Park Lane Apartments, Tralee, faces one count of harassing the man between February and July 2023.
The man brought a diary to court which he read from, that contained records he kept of every phone call he received from her over that period.
The man who was allegedly harassed, told the court he met Ms Burgess on a night out over 30 years ago, and he has not been able to get rid of her since.
He told the court when the calls began, gardaí advised him to take down notes of when he received the calls and what she said in them.
He said he never spoke to her during that time, never called her back, but he read details of the near-daily phone calls he said Ms Burgess made to his phone, sometimes multiple times a day, at all hours.
She’s alleged to have left voicemails in which she said things including “Goodnight, I love you”, “I’m sorry we couldn’t keep our dinner date”, and “It’s time to call my girlfriend”.
The man told the court she also left messages about sausages, cigarettes, and what he described as “rambling nonsense”, while he said she also sang “Glory, glory, hallelujah” down the phone.
He said he received phone calls from taxis and hotels, who said Ms Burgess had given them his number so he could pay for rooms or taxi fares.
Ms Burgess, who has been in and out of homelessness, was represented by barrister Katie O’Connell, instructed by solicitor Eimear Griffin from the office of Pádraig O’Connell.
Ms O’Connell put it to the man that Ms Burgess denies harassment, but admitted making some phone calls because she was concerned for him; he replied, “I don’t believe that for one second”.
Ms Burgess told gardaí she met the man in Horans 35 years ago, and she thinks she did make the phone calls to his phone.
She told gardaí she did get a hotel in Cork to call him, because she thought he had booked her a room.
She told gardaí she knows his number off by heart, but said there is no relationship between them and there never was.
The trial will resume tomorrow morning.
