A Kerry man googled if someone can be charged with murder if there’s no body, before gardaí arrested him for threatening to kill his former partner.
36-year-old Pádraig Griffin of Tullig, Castleisland, pleaded guilty to one count of harassing his former partner, and another of threatening to kill her.
In her victim impact statement at Mr Griffin’s sentence hearing, the woman said she is constantly in fear that he is going to kill her and their child.
Mr Griffin’s former partner caught him using cocaine in their house on Christmas Eve 2024, and he eventually agreed to leave the family home in April 2025.
He began sending anonymous messages to the woman almost immediately, which the court heard were quite foul, highly sexual, and highly insulting.
He then started to send threatening messages and emails, purporting to be drug dealers who were seeking cash for a drug debt which had no truth to it.
Mr Griffin’s harassment and threats escalated over the following months, with further threats to physically hurt her and even kill her.
On 23rd October 2025, he told her in a phone call, “You won’t be a mother anymore”.
The woman contacted gardaí, and when they searched the house Mr Griffin was living in, they found a gear bag which had in it a phone, a knife wrapped in tissue in a plastic bag, zip ties, razors, balaclavas, clear rubber gloves, and instructions for a mini Wi-Fi camera.
He had been using this hidden camera to record images and videos of her in her bathroom.
The gear bag also contained handwritten notes which referenced further threats of murder, while the phones seized had accessed the email accounts and phone numbers he used to harass the woman.
The phone also showed Mr Griffin had googled, “Can someone be charged for murder in Ireland if there is no body”.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she is unable to enjoy life the way she used to, and he has deprived her of her independence and freedom.
She said she barely sleeps anymore, and will have to endure the stress and trauma from this for the rest of her life.
Mr Griffin’s barrister Katie O’Connell, instructed by solicitor Eimear Griffin from the office of Pádraig O'Connell, said he is frightened by his own behaviour, and he’s apologetic and remorseful.
Judge Alec Gabbett said Mr Griffin’s “go-bag” was a very pre-meditated act, and he adjourned the case to 6th October to get a psychiatric report on Mr Griffin.
