Internet Troll gets three years

Overheal

Overheal wrote: »

Because it’s impossible for a “recluse” with clear mental health problems to go off the handle.... he should just be left to go back home, continue his isolation and be free to continue the same online shenanigans?

Besides this will be rehabilitative for him.

I hardly think 3 years in the Joy with hardened criminals will be "rehabilitative" but how and ever ...

A few weeks to send a message to him would have been just as effective - that would cool him off.

As others have pointed out, people are getting suspended sentences for repeated violent crimes. The message is that if you physically attack people you are not going to be punished as badly as if you threaten to. Totally insane IMO.

nkl12xtw5goz70

Overheal wrote: »

Because it’s impossible for a “recluse” with clear mental health problems to go off the handle.... he should just be left to go back home, continue his isolation and be free to continue the same online shenanigans?

He has no history of violence, and never goes outside, so the risks are fairly small. Certainly smaller than in case of the numerous actual violent criminals who walk free out of Irish courts on a weekly basis.

and be free to continue the same online shenanigans?

We can't imprison everyone who trolls or abuses others on Twitter. The prisons would be overflowing within days. "Online shenanigans" will continue whether this guy is in prison or not.

Marcos

You're also assuming that there is place in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum which can only take 94 patients at the moment.

hese are the final days of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. It’s scheduled to move into a modern facility, St Ita’s in Portrane, by 2020.

The new facility will be like a hotel compared with Dundrum, Kennedy says. Most significantly, it will be able to handle 170 inpatients instead of the current 94, including 10 beds for adolescents and 20 beds for women.

So that could be another reason why he got prison time instead.

charlietheminxx

I suffered ongoing harassment from an ex a number of years ago. Even though I was fairly certain he was no physical threat to me, I can't tell you the damage it does to your mental health. I remember one day (the worst day of it) I had texts coming from 2 numbers, calls coming in from private numbers, emails coming from a new email account (after I blocked one) and facebook messenger lighting up from fake profiles - all from him, all non-stop. It would stop for a while, maybe a few days, maybe a week or 2 and then start back up. I never knew when it would happen, but it did. I tried everything and ended up going to the gardai myself in the end.

I remember waiting on news about a sick relative and him just blowing up my phone. I remember waiting to hear back from job interviews in 2012 and still feeling uneasy every time I saw a private number. I remember a night away with some friends where I had 38 missed calls in 2 hours.

That went on from 2011 to 2014. I still don't take my phone off silent, ever.

You might say "ah it's a few messages, the poor lad isn't well" but you do not know how badly the spurts of it hit you. You could be having the best day of your life, and then you receive a barrage of contact and it sours it completely.

This guy did that to multiple women, who owed him nothing, and did everything they could to make it stop. It is horrible when you have no more options, when you can't make it stop and get a bit of peace. Nobody deserves to be harassed.

James Brown

I thought it was a little harsh, if only compared to assault cases getting so light sentencing.

Scoundrel

No doubt he posted on here with some of the other "free speech""you cant say anything anymore" morons.

charlietheminxx

Matt Barrett wrote: »

I thought it was a little harsh, if only compared to assault cases getting so light sentencing.

I do see that perspective, but I look at it as 6 months per woman he harassed. He will serve 3 years, less than half the period of harassment he inflicted on others.

Assault cases, particularly sexual assault, need massive sentencing reforms, but that doesn't make this sentence incorrect.

Scoundrel

Eric Cartman wrote: »

6 months, its just words on the internet...

I suspect if it wasnt female journalists who love the victim card and turning on the crocodile tears then ut would have been more reasonable

Oh yeah i'd like to see how well you'd cope with 6 years of abusive Emails you'd be crying to the gards after a week snowflake.

splinter65

Social media has given an opportunity to folk with all kinds of mental health problems to focus their frustration and fear on public figures who they see as deserving of abuse.
Ranting at the TV/radio or writing the odd strongly worded letter to the Editor was as far as it went before.

IAMAMORON

It is all over for the little man. People are such snowflakes these days.

AlanG

I think 3 years is a reasonable sentence if he doesn't have mental health issues. I do however agree with the OP that he probably would have received a lesser sentence if he had actually assaulted the women. It is those cases that have to get focused on.

Wheety

Matt Barrett wrote: »

I thought it was a little harsh, if only compared to assault cases getting so light sentencing.

Yes, the problem is the sentences for these other violent crimes are too soft. Does not mean that this judge got it wrong.

IAMAMORON

Wheety wrote: »

So young people being bullied on the Internet, enough in some cases to attempt to take their own lives, should just be told it's only words?

The answer to your question is yes , they should be told it is only words and that it is only the internet. Kids have been bullied since the dawn of time, it is an unwelcome but very normal part of growing up. As is evident from this case the bullying does not finish when you leave the playground either, it is everywhere.

The sooner kids learn to adapt and deal with their bullies and their fears, the more robust and capable an individual they will become. It is not the internets' or social media's fault that kids get bullied, it is just another medium with which bullies throw their weight around.

Faugheen

charlietheminxx wrote: »

I suffered ongoing harassment from an ex a number of years ago. Even though I was fairly certain he was no physical threat to me, I can't tell you the damage it does to your mental health. I remember one day (the worst day of it) I had texts coming from 2 numbers, calls coming in from private numbers, emails coming from a new email account (after I blocked one) and facebook messenger lighting up from fake profiles - all from him, all non-stop. It would stop for a while, maybe a few days, maybe a week or 2 and then start back up. I never knew when it would happen, but it did. I tried everything and ended up going to the gardai myself in the end.

I remember waiting on news about a sick relative and him just blowing up my phone. I remember waiting to hear back from job interviews in 2012 and still feeling uneasy every time I saw a private number. I remember a night away with some friends where I had 38 missed calls in 2 hours.

That went on from 2011 to 2014. I still don't take my phone off silent, ever.

You might say "ah it's a few messages, the poor lad isn't well" but you do not know how badly the spurts of it hit you. You could be having the best day of your life, and then you receive a barrage of contact and it sours it completely.

This guy did that to multiple women, who owed him nothing, and did everything they could to make it stop. It is horrible when you have no more options, when you can't make it stop and get a bit of peace. Nobody deserves to be harassed.

‘You probably brought it on yourself’ or ‘why didn’t you just answer him?’ will be the next lines from those playing this down.

I’m sorry that happened to you. I can’t imagine what that was like.

charlietheminxx

Faugheen wrote: »

‘You probably brought it on yourself’ or ‘why didn’t you just answer him?’ will be the next lines from those playing this down.

I’m sorry that happened to you. I can’t imagine what that was like.

Probably!

Thanks for being so kind, it was incredibly stressful at the time. It definitely changed some things in my life forever, hate to think of anyone putting up with it. Looking at your phone first thing in the morning and getting the sinking feeling when your see the messages and just thinking "...well it's going to be one of those days then".

riffmongous

IAMAMORON wrote: »

It is all over for the little man. People are such snowflakes these days.

God you can't even stalk and harass strangers anymore, PC gone mad!

wiggle16

I completely disagree with you, Poitin, sorry. I agree with the sentence.

We can call it trolling. Or we can call it what it actually is: stalking and harassment.

One of the women posted about being at home alone. He then said something to the effect of "I'll be over soon". Yes it's just words - but when those words are coming from a stranger who has sent you over 400 abusive messages and is clearly obsessed with you, you'd be excused for feeling a tad freaked out.

The thing is that these women have no way of knowing if this guy is *just* some twisted shut-in (which he was) or if they were in danger from him. "Trolling" is what happens on Boards and in the comments section on youtube - people posting something disagreeable to get a reaction from randomers. Sending abusive PMs to a specific person is not trolling. Sending 450 of them is harassment and stalking.

They have no way of knowing if he is dangerous and many truly dangerous stalkers started off like this. The guy who shot Ronald Reagan was trying to impress Jodie Foster.

Myself I don't think the internet should provide the level of anonymity it does and people should be held accountable for what they do and say online.

Ronaldinho

Not condoning what your man was at for a second but can't help thinking he was in the wrong courtroom at the wrong time. Given increased scrutiny recently on the Judge's seemingly lenient sentencing for sexual assaults and child pornography, can't help thinking he decided to stick it to this fella.

EmmetSpiceland

Eric Cartman wrote: »

6 months, its just words on the internet...

I suspect if it wasnt female journalists who love the victim card and turning on the crocodile tears then ut would have been more reasonable

I suspect that if it happened to male journalists there wouldn’t be as many “users” on here defending the creep.

Ulysses Gaze

charlietheminxx wrote: »

I suffered ongoing harassment from an ex a number of years ago. Even though I was fairly certain he was no physical threat to me, I can't tell you the damage it does to your mental health. I remember one day (the worst day of it) I had texts coming from 2 numbers, calls coming in from private numbers, emails coming from a new email account (after I blocked one) and facebook messenger lighting up from fake profiles - all from him, all non-stop. It would stop for a while, maybe a few days, maybe a week or 2 and then start back up. I never knew when it would happen, but it did. I tried everything and ended up going to the gardai myself in the end.

I remember waiting on news about a sick relative and him just blowing up my phone. I remember waiting to hear back from job interviews in 2012 and still feeling uneasy every time I saw a private number. I remember a night away with some friends where I had 38 missed calls in 2 hours.

That went on from 2011 to 2014. I still don't take my phone off silent, ever.

You might say "ah it's a few messages, the poor lad isn't well" but you do not know how badly the spurts of it hit you. You could be having the best day of your life, and then you receive a barrage of contact and it sours it completely.

This guy did that to multiple women, who owed him nothing, and did everything they could to make it stop. It is horrible when you have no more options, when you can't make it stop and get a bit of peace. Nobody deserves to be harassed.

Well according to some of the hard chaws here, you just needed to "Suck it up, Snowflake"

It sounds horrendous what you went through. Don't think anyone, even the keyboard commandos here, would want to go through it either.

Ashbourne hoop

Just because other sentences may seem light doesn't mean this one was too severe. I think it's right. Stalking someone is horrendous.

sk8erboii

Eric Cartman wrote: »

6 months, its just words on the internet...

I suspect if it wasnt female journalists who love the victim card and turning on the crocodile tears then ut would have been more reasonable

Lol. This case sets a precedence against most posters on current affairs. Its over for you all. And its not a coincidence he’s a mentally ill social outcast either.

Lets face it. In the real public world, you’d get slammed for the idiocy posted on here. Thats why trolls congregate on boards.ie - its their safe space. No longer soon, thankfully

BarryD2

charlietheminxx wrote: »

I suffered ongoing harassment from an ex a number of years ago. Even though I was fairly certain he was no physical threat to me, I can't tell you the damage it does to your mental health. I remember one day (the worst day of it) I had texts coming from 2 numbers, calls coming in from private numbers, emails coming from a new email account (after I blocked one) and facebook messenger lighting up from fake profiles - all from him, all non-stop. It would stop for a while, maybe a few days, maybe a week or 2 and then start back up. I never knew when it would happen, but it did. I tried everything and ended up going to the gardai myself in the end.

I remember waiting on news about a sick relative and him just blowing up my phone. I remember waiting to hear back from job interviews in 2012 and still feeling uneasy every time I saw a private number. I remember a night away with some friends where I had 38 missed calls in 2 hours.

That went on from 2011 to 2014. I still don't take my phone off silent, ever.

You might say "ah it's a few messages, the poor lad isn't well" but you do not know how badly the spurts of it hit you. You could be having the best day of your life, and then you receive a barrage of contact and it sours it completely..

That's pretty bad and must have been tough. The case in point is somewhat different in AFAIK he wasn't txting their mobile phones. Was he not using Twitter and other social media platforms, that is a different level. These women are adults, educated and media savvy writers / journalists. People who are opinionated tend to attract opinons. They surely had the ability to ignore and/or block messages that they didn't like.

wiggle16

BarryD2 wrote: »

That's pretty bad and must have been tough. The case in point is somewhat different in AFAIK he wasn't txting their mobile phones. Was he not using Twitter and other social media platforms, that is a different level. These women are adults, educated and media savvy writers / journalists. People who are opinionated tend to attract opinons. They surely had the ability to ignore and/or block messages that they didn't like.

"Didn't like" is a different level to what these women were dealing with.

They did ignore and block him. He circumvented these things.

He had the ability to stop sending hundreds of abusive messages to people who did nothing to warrant them. He didn't.

It's ridiculous that people are still trying to turn it around on these women and minimise the man's culpability.

charlietheminxx

BarryD2 wrote: »

That's pretty bad and must have been tough. The case in point is somewhat different in AFAIK he wasn't txting their mobile phones. Was he not using Twitter and other social media platforms, that is a different level. These women are adults, educated and media savvy writers / journalists. People who are opinionated tend to attract opinons. They surely had the ability to ignore and/or block messages that they didn't like.

I'm an adult and an educated woman too, it doesn't make it any less horrible or easier to ignore Apparently any time they blocked an email address or twitter handle, he set up a new one...it sounds like it was a full time job for him. Given their somewhat public profile, it's not like they could set everything at the top level privacy limit so nobody could contact them. It wasn't just them either, it was their friends and family. Imagine how that must feel.

I'm not sure if he had their numbers or not, but everything is so digital now that it doesn't make so much of a difference.

Faugheen

You just know some of the ‘concerned citizens’ here aren’t married and have no daughters.

IAMAMORON

Faugheen wrote: »

You just know some of the ‘concerned citizens’ here aren’t married and have no daughters.

I would be concerned if you were....

tdf7187

My 2c is that sentence may well be about right, that doesn't change fact that some sentences for violent crime are disgracefully lenient in this country.

seamus

Sentence isn't severe enough tbh. After his sentence he needs to be remanded in the central mental hospital until it can be shown that he no longer presents a threat to others. Prime candidate for escalating his hate into stalking and physical assault when he gets out.

The guy is a walking stereotype of the kind of troll who goes on about "lefties", "anti-white bias" and "men under attack".

Doesn't surprise me to see some of the same heads on here defending him. When's the last time some of you guys left your parent's spare room and went outside?

Seathrun66

Maddux Modern Rule wrote: »

A three-year prison sentence for calling them "wannabes, nobodies, whiteist, bigots, lefties and pseudo-intellectuals" seems bizarre, especially for a mentally ill recluse who left his home twice in 17 years.

It will also have the effect of chilling free speech in Ireland. People will now think twice about calling out female public figures on social media for fear of being hauled before the courts.

A three year sentence for harassment, including threats and making them aware he had their home addresses.

IAMAMORON

sk8erboii wrote: »

Lol. This case sets a precedence against most posters on current affairs. Its over for you all. And its not a coincidence he’s a mentally ill social outcast either.

Lets face it. In the real public world, you’d get slammed for the idiocy posted on here. Thats why trolls congregate on boards.ie - its their safe space. No longer soon, thankfully

Seathrun66

Maddux Modern Rule wrote: »

A recluse who had left his house twice in the previous 17 years?

Hardly seems likely, does it?

Information gleaned from the trial. The women wouldn't have been aware of that.

sk8erboii

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Lol nah mate. Rereg trolls should face jail time though. The sh*te they say is truly pathological.

SusieBlue

I'd like to say I'm shocked at the posts here from the usual suspects, downplaying the severity & significance of the crimes committed against these women but I'm really not.

People tying themselves up in knots trying to defend the indefensible, using any frivilous excuse to blame the women for what that man did to them... As if they had any say in the matter. As if they are in any way responsible for the repeated, relentless actions taken by that man.
They aren't.

It makes depressing reading of a Friday afternoon, I'll tell you that much.

ancapailldorcha

SusieBlue wrote: »

I'd like to say I'm shocked at the posts here from the usual suspects, downplaying the severity & significance of the crimes committed against these women but I'm really not.

People tying themselves up in knots trying to defend the indefensible, using any frivilous excuse to blame the women for what that man did to them... As if they had any say in the matter. As if they are in any way responsible for the repeated, relentless actions taken by that man.
They aren't.

It makes depressing reading of a Friday afternoon, I'll tell you that much.

I agree completely. It's been widely prevalent over the past few years. Any racist, misogynist, homophobe or peddler of other bile must be defended to the hilt even if it means signing up for countless accounts on the same site over and over again. Personally, I think that that's just sad and pathetic but that's just me.

I just don't engage any more with people who just spout the same snide one-liners over and over again. It really is just a waste of time.

IAMAMORON

At last, we have reached the moral high ground.... phew.

nkl12xtw5goz70

In a case in the UK earlier this year, internet troll Jarod Kirkman was found guilty of targeting seven politicians with death threats and racist messages.

He told Heidi Allen of the Independent Group: "Your days are f**king numbered bitch. Will it be polonium or novichok? Either way you will never know, expect it soon." He told Labour's David Lammy: "Go back to the jungle n****r where you belong" and "f**k off and die in the jungle." He told former Conservative minister Nicky Morgan: "Your days are f**king numbered bitch, death will be swift."

Kirkman received a custodial sentence totaling 42 weeks, or nine and a half months.

Doolin will go to prison for almost four times that long, for sending messages that were by all accounts far milder than the explicit death threats sent by Kirkman. Calling people wannabes and nobodies isn't really in the same league as "Your days are f**king numbered."

Assetbacked

It's pretty clear he needed to also have been in possession of some sort of illegal content involving children in order to have avoided a custodial sentence.

Boggles

Maddux Modern Rule wrote: »

In a case in the UK earlier this year, internet troll Jarod Kirkman was found guilty of targeting seven politicians with death threats and racist messages.

He told Heidi Allen of the Independent Group: "Your days are f**king numbered bitch. Will it be polonium or novichok? Either way you will never know, expect it soon." He told Labour's David Lammy: "Go back to the jungle n****r where you belong" and "f**k off and die in the jungle." He told former Conservative minister Nicky Morgan: "Your days are f**king numbered bitch, death will be swift."

Kirkman received a custodial sentence totaling 42 weeks, or nine and a half months.

Doolin will go to prison for almost four times that long, for sending messages that were by all accounts far milder than the explicit death threats sent by Kirkman. Calling people wannabes and nobodies isn't really in the same league as "Your days are f**king numbered."

UK is a different jurisdiction, but anyway his harassment lasted 6 odd weeks.

This Cretins lasted years and continued after he was charged.

Tony EH

alchemist33 wrote: »

Odd that there are some posters who would normall be the first to complain about "bleeding heart liberals" who would be soft on criminals. Yet here they are going on about the poor criminal with not a thought for the women who were harrassed for years.

Maybe he's just their type of criminal. :pac:

In any case, given the posting history and general opinions of said posters, I don't find their defence of this creep odd in the slightest.

More like par the course really.

Faugheen

Tony EH wrote: »

Maybe he's just their type of criminal. :pac:

In any case, given the posting history and general opinions of said posters, I don't find their defence of this creep odd in the slightest.

More like par the course really.

It’s not even the defences, it’s the excuses.

You can guarantee if this was a woman she’d be called ‘deranged’, ‘psychotic’ and ‘should be put away for longer for treating those poor men to that’.

wiggle16

Maddux Modern Rule wrote: »

In a case in the UK earlier this year, internet troll Jarod Kirkman was found guilty of targeting seven politicians with death threats and racist messages.

He told Heidi Allen of the Independent Group: "Your days are f**king numbered bitch. Will it be polonium or novichok? Either way you will never know, expect it soon." He told Labour's David Lammy: "Go back to the jungle n****r where you belong" and "f**k off and die in the jungle." He told former Conservative minister Nicky Morgan: "Your days are f**king numbered bitch, death will be swift."

Kirkman received a custodial sentence totaling 42 weeks, or nine and a half months.

Doolin will go to prison for almost four times that long, for sending messages that were by all accounts far milder than the explicit death threats sent by Kirkman. Calling people wannabes and nobodies isn't really in the same league as "Your days are f**king numbered."

You're picking a legal case from a different country, with a different legal system and different sentencing guidelines, and comparing the two... to make what point exactly?

If your point is that a man in the UK only got 42 weeks jail time for sending death threats and that that is unduly lenient, then yes, you'd be right. But that's not what you're saying, of course.

Giving innocent women dog's abuse for years, anonymously, is not okay. It doesn't matter what he said or whether it could have been worse. They knew some weirdo on the internet was obsessed with them and knew where they lived, and he contacted them relentlessly.

This isn't about whether or not the ladies in question should have had thicker skins, as some people here seem to think, because he was "only" calling them some names and not others. It's that if you decide to harass and stalk people for years for your own pathetic amusement then you deserve a decent stretch in prison for being a cowardly little dick.

Junkyard Tom

Delighted for the sad bastard. Hopefully other cowardly, woman-hating, sad bastards will feel a little less safe in their self-imposed isolation.

RabbleRouser2k

It's a bit odd, imo.
His sentence seems harsh, imo.

I mean,a female teacher groomed and had a sexual relationship with a minor who she admitted to having sex with when he was underage. (Yes, the case was here in Ireland).

She got a year in prison.

In comparison, okay, he sent nasty crap to someone-unless he sent it from multiple addresses, why not just block the jerk and move on?

Calhoun

Odd sentence considering some of the other stuff going on, wouldn't be surprised if it was appealed but I am glad there are consequences for his actions.

To be honest I think this could help him rebuild his life , someone who hasn't left their house but twice in 17 years isn't a healthy individual.

RabbleRouser2k

Calhoun wrote: »

Odd sentence considering some of the other stuff going on, wouldn't be surprised if it was appealed but I am glad there are consequences for his actions.

To be honest I think this could help him rebuild his life , someone who hasn't left their house but twice in 17 years isn't a healthy individual.

Yeah, won't argue that he's not living his best life-but this might actually make things worse.

Someone with severe mental health problems might actually find their condition worsening in prison.

The resources for mental health are disastrous outside of prison-in prison they're bound to be more under-resourced.
Couple that with when he gets out, a criminal record will only make him more isolated.

wiggle16

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

It's a bit odd, imo.
His sentence seems harsh, imo.
I mean,a female teacher groomed and had a sexual relationship with a minor who she admitted to having sex with when he was underage. (Yes, the case was here in Ireland).
She got a year in prison.
In comparison, okay, he sent nasty crap to someone-unless he sent it from multiple addresses, why not just block the jerk and move on?

They did block him. He created new accounts.

Why do people feel the need to compare two completely different crimes in order to make out that this man's sentence was "too harsh"? Is it that it can't be judged to be too harsh based on its own merits and therefore comparisons need to be drawn to completely different crimes?

Faugheen

wiggle16 wrote: »

They did block him. He created new accounts.

Why do people feel the need to compare two completely different crimes in order to make out that this man's sentence was "too harsh"? Is it that it can't be judged to be too harsh based on its own merits and therefore comparisons need to be drawn to completely different crimes?

No, but this woman did a completely different crime and only got this amount.

But the man here was hard done by and the women brought it all on themselves.

LoughNeagh2017

I am a member of a forum with many members who adore Elliot Rodger, we are mostly autistic virgins. I urge the PSNI to arrest me, I heard the prisons here are comfortable nowadays anyway, I heard someone say they were allowed to play the PlayStation in them.

One of the members of our forum had a visit from the police in Germany today.

RabbleRouser2k

Faugheen wrote: »

No, but this woman did a completely different crime and only got this amount.

But the man here was hard done by and the women brought it all on themselves.

Not what I meant at all, not in the slightest. Seriously stretching to make that assumption.

I mean, you could flip that argument and say 'the victim at the centre of the case I mentioned was a teenaged boy, and only brought grooming and statutory rape upon himself'.

Both are equally illogical arguments. I merely stated that I found the sentencing too harsh in light of the crime. There's an obvious mental imbalance in this fellow's behaviour. A harsh enough sentence won't help that.