The Circuit Court judge in Tralee has said he wants a psychiatrist to assess a woman who has continually harassed a man she had a brief encounter with 35 years ago.
74-year-old Kate Burgess, of Park Lane Apartments, Tralee, was found guilty of harassing the man by making around 150 phone calls to his number between February and July 2023.
The jury took just 28 minutes to deliberate before reaching a unanimous guilty verdict last week, and Ms Burgess was before the court again for sentencing.
The court heard Ms Burgess met this man briefly around 35 years ago, and then reappeared in Tralee many years later and began contacting him.
She was previously convicted for trespassing at his house, and the man said he moved house entirely to get away from her.
After she was convicted of harassing the man by phoning him over a four-month period around eight years ago, she was bound by the court to stop calling him for two years, the entirety of the two-year suspended sentence she received.
Ms Burgess left the man alone during this time, but six months after the court order expired, she began phoning him constantly again in February 2023.
She phoned his number around 150 times from then until July, even though the man never answered nor rang her back.
The court heard she had no logical reason to call him, and she would leave voicemails which were sometimes nonsensical and sometimes nasty towards him.
Last week, a jury convicted her of harassing the man in that period in 2023 after just 28 minutes of deliberations, and her sentencing hearing began this week.
The man said in his victim impact statement, one message which stood out was her telling him she would torment him until the day he dies.
He said he hopes he and his family can move on from this for good.
Prosecuting barrister Tom Rice said he will be asking the judge to make an order that Ms Burgess stay away from the man and not contact him, alongside whatever sentence he may impose.
Defending barrister Katie O’Connell, instructed by solicitor Eimear Griffin from the office of Pádraig O’Connell, said Ms Burgess had some obsession with the man that she could not get over, but it is clearly unrequited.
Judge Alec Gabbett said Ms Burgess may have a mental illness and he needs to know what that is before he can sentence her.
He said he needs a psychiatrist in Limerick Prison to assess and diagnose her, and he adjourned the matter to 28th July to get the psychiatrist’s report.
