A PRISON officer based at Limerick Prison today this Tuesday (October 22) told the trial of Barbie Kardashian that he heard her threaten to rape and kill a fellow inmate at the prison last year.
Prison officer Aiden O’Meara said he heard the accused threaten to rape and kill fellow inmate Tegan McGhee on February 25, 2023.
“She (Kardashian) threatened to kill her, and she threatened to rape her with an implement and leave her in such a way that she could not have children,” Officer O’Meara alleged.
“I have no doubt that the threat was made with malice and forethought,” he told Ms Kardashian’s trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
Officer O’Meara said Barbie Kardashian later confirmed to him that she had meant the threat.
Officer O’Meara said Ms Kardashian told him: “Yes, I did say that, I meant it, and if I get the chance, I will carry it out. She (Tegan McGhee) deserves to be punished.”
Officer O’Meara said Ms McGhee was “visibly shaking, crying, and cleary upset” afterwards.
He said that he and an assistant chief officer at the prison on the day conducted a welfare check with Ms McGhee in her cell afterwards “to assure her that no harm would come to her”.
Officer O’Meara said Ms Kardashian issued the threats after she questioned Ms McGhee over whether she had complained about her to prison officers for allegedly leaving the prison showers dirty.
Ms Kardashian, a transgender woman, was not permitted to mix with the rest of the female prison population (four in total, including Ms Kardashian) on the Echo-1 (E1) wing at the prison, the court heard.
Earlier Ms McGhee gave direct evidence that she had a cleaning job on the E1 wing, which included cleaning the floors and washing the prisoner’s shower room.
Ms McGhee said there was an “ongoing issue” with hair on the walls of the shower area.
She said that Barbie Kardashian arrived outside her closed and locked cell door, and through the door asked her if she had accused her of leaving the showers dirty.
Ms McGhee said she told Ms Kardashian she had complained her to prison officers in respect of the showers.
“Barbie said ‘I’m going to rape you so you can’t have any more children’. I was kind of in shock, and I pressed the emergency button in my cell for the officer to come to the door,” Ms McGhee said.
“I know her voice, she was the person who said it. It’s not really an Irish accent, it’s a sort of American accent.
“I was extremely shocked and upset and disgusted that someone could say something like that.”
Under cross examination from senior defence counsel Andrew Sexton, instructed by Yvonne Quinn, BL, and solicitor Julianne Kiely, Ms McGhee agreed she had never actually met, seen, nor spoken to Barbie Kardashian prior to their alleged exchange on the day.
Catherine Halley, a supervising prison officer on the female prison wing on the day, gave evidence in court that on the afternoon in question she heard some of the prisoners discussing “the state of the showers”.
Officer Halley said she observed Ms Kardashian coming from the shower room and stopping outside at Ms McGhee’s cell. The witness said she heard Barbie Kardashian ask Ms McGhee had she accused her of leaving the showers dirty.
“What I heard next was Barbie say to Tegan, ‘if I get my hands on you, I will rape you with an implement and you will not be able to have kids again’,” Officer Halley alleged.
Officer Halley said after this she and Officer O’Meara went out onto the landing and directed Ms Kardashian “to go back to her cell, and she did”.
On Monday, prosecuting barrister John O’Sullivan told the jury that Ms Kardashian was born a male, named “Gabrielle Alejandro Gentile, to Venezuelan parents in County Meath”, and in 2020 changed names to Barbie Kardashian by deed poll, “and (she) successfully applied for a gender recognition certificate, and changed from male to female on the 18th of August, 2020”.
Ms Kardashian has pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Ms McGhee in February 2023.
She has also pleaded not guilty to a further three charges of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Roisin Linnane, who was working as prison officer at Limerick Prison, on dates in 2023.
The trial continues on Wednesday before a jury of seven women and five men when Officer O’Meara will face cross examination from Ms Kardashian’s barristers.
Ms Linnane is also expected to give direct evidence on Wednesday.
