Man who targeted niece in relentless campaign of abuse on Facebook jailed for 10 years

William Phelan also pleaded guilty to a random arson attack on a takeaway business that caused €224,000 worth of damage.

The Co. Laois man left dozens of threatening and crude voice mails on his niece’s phone as well as aggressive and lewd Facebook posts aimed at her.

She was left in fear that her home could be burned down, and members of her family would be attacked.

Judge Keenan Johnson said that the woman targeted by Phelan should “under no circumstances” blame herself and that blame “rests exclusively” with Phelan.

She said in a previous victim impact statement she felt guilty for not dealing with it sooner.

Because the harassment took place after he had been given bail on the arson charge, Judge Johnson imposed consecutive sentences for each set of offences.

He gave Phelan, who sat impassively in court with his arms crossed, six years for the arson attack and the same for the harassment, and suspended the final two years.

The judge commended the woman’s impact statement which he described as understated and reasoned and that she went to the gardaí only as a last resort.

A member of the family whose catering business was devastated by Phelan’s arson attack said his actions had hit them physically, mentally and financially.

People in nearby apartments had to be evacuated as a result of the fire, which Judge Johnson said showed Phelan did not consider the danger he was causing to others.

The court had heard that small farmer Phelan, from Mountrath, also left his niece fearful that her house would be burned down.

In one message Phelan warned he’d done it before and in another that he knew people he’d met in prison who would ‘finish’ her husband and son if she ignored him.

The harassment started years before the period in 2023 for which he was charged.

Even after Phelan was charged and bailed, he continued to send threatening messages which became more aggressive depending on how much he had drunk.

The woman said she felt guilty over what her husband and teenage children had to endure because she hadn’t dealt sooner with her uncle’s harassment.

She thought he would leave her alone if she ignored him, but at one point he left as many 30 voice mails on her phone in a single day.

Phrases such as that he was “an atom bomb ready to go off” left her terrified what might happen.

When a brother died, she said Phelan would make ‘calls from the grave’, an act she said had an effect on her she can’t describe.

She described the Facebook commentary as sinister and lewd, and which left scars that will never heal.

Trips into town became anxiety filled as Phelan would be sitting in the town square watching the comings and goings.

They installed a CCTV system at their home such was her fear that Phelan would carry out his threats to burn her house down.

After a court hearing at which Phelan got bail after reassuring the court he would stop, he was harassing her within 48 hours.

She described him as an expert in manipulating facts who can adapt and upskill and sees himself as the victim and has shown no remorse.

A Garda officer previously gave evidence how Phelan described himself as a chronic alcoholic who was drinking a 700ml bottle of vodka and six to eight cans of cider every day.

Phelan also said he got a kick out of frightening the woman and “putting the sh*ts up her” after being asked about one message in which he threatened suicide.

Phelan was re-arrested and has been in custody since July last year. It was heard he who lived alone on a 40-acre farm since the death of his mother in 2011.