A FORMER couple who waged a “campaign of intimidation and harassment” against their dentist were given fully suspended four-year jail sentences.
Parents of one, Michael De Sousa (36) and Emma Maun, (28), who share an address at Sheehan’s Flats, Askeaton, County Limerick, had faced a maximum 10 years in prison.
The harassment started after the dentist referred Ms Maun to a specialist maxillofacial clinic because she required more complex treatment than the dentist could provide.
Maun was unhappy about having to go to another clinic and started sending the dentist “unnerving” private messages on social media, prosecuting counsel, John O’Sullivan BL told Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
For several months Maun and Mr De Sousa harassed the dentist, going her to her workplace and staring at her, which the dentist found “alarming”, said Mr O’Sullivan.
Mr O’Sullivan said De Sousa admitted Gardaí that he sent the dentist an “extremely vulgar” card on Valentine Day 2022, which had “left (the dentist) fearful and disgusted”.
Mr O’Sullivan said that, during the pair’s “campaign of intimidation and harassment”, Maun had followed the dentist from her workplace along her route home on a date in March 2002.
In another worrying episode, Maun drove De Sousa to the dentist’s home at 4.30am where De Sousa smeared pancake mix over the dentist’s car.
Mr O’Sullivan said the dentist told Gardaí she was “afraid” and had “no peace of mind because of the stalking”.
The dentist told Gardaí there was “no rationale” behind the “bizarre fixation with me”.
After the dentist made a formal complaint to Gardaí, De Sousa visited two Garda stations and made completely false accusations of a sexual nature against the dentist.
Maun told Gardaí she made a complaint about the dentist to the Irish Dental Association, also found to be false.
Gardaí compiled 54 individual CCTV video clips placing Maun and De Sousa outside the dentist’s workplace and home.
Maun and De Sousa pleaded not guilty to one count of harassment of the dentist, but wereboth found guilty by a jury following a four-week trial.
De Sousa pleaded guilty to making false statements to Gardaí of a sexual nature about the dentist, and to causing criminal damage to the dentist’s car.
Mr O’Sullivan said Maun was “directly involved” in harassing the dentist, and told the court that, much like De Sousa, “she also felt entitled to do these things” and lacked remorse.
Maun, represented by junior counsel Amy Nix BL, and De Sousa, acted for by Liam Carroll BL, issued apologies to the dentist, but did not accept the jury’s verdict.
Maun and De Sousa claimed they had been abused by relatives when they were children, and Maun told probation services she had found it hard to fit in and had a complex about her teeth.
Maun wrote a letter pleading with the sentencing Judge, Dermot Sheehan, not to jail her, saying she needed to be with her young daughter who she said has health difficulties.
At an earlier sentencing hearing, the dentist broke down in court describing how she feared for her life during Maun and De Sousa’s campaign of harassment.
“I would watch cars, check registration plates, it became disruptive and exhaustive. I did not feel safe going outside,” the dentist said.
The dentist said the card she received from De Sousa made her “skin crawl”, and seeing Maun and De Sousa “laughing” during their trial “was sickening”.
Judge Sheehan said a major consideration in his sentencing was that he would be breaking up the defendant’s family if he imposed an immediate custodial sentence on Maun and De Sousa.
The judge ordered the parents keep the peace and not reoffend for a period of four years, and that they not make any contact with the dentist for a period of 15 years or come within 200 metres of the dentist’s home or workplace.
He also ordered that De Sousa’s engage with the probation services in respect of receiving help for mental health and anger management issues.
