Courts

Jimmy Guerin, brother of Veronica, told ‘life would be shortened’, High Court hears

There was also an attempted break-in at Mr Guerin’s home, the court was told

Jimmy Guerin, a brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin, was followed to his car and told his 'life would be shortened' if he continued to pursue his defamation case against Gemma O’Doherty, the court was told. Photograph: Collins Courts
Jimmy Guerin, a brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin, was followed to his car and told his 'life would be shortened' if he continued to pursue his defamation case against Gemma O’Doherty, the court was told. Photograph: Collins Courts
Tue Jan 23 2024 - 17:49

Jimmy Guerin, a brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin, was followed to his car and told his “life would be shortened” if he continued to pursue his defamation case against Gemma O’Doherty, the High Court has heard.

Ronan Lupton SC, for Mr Guerin, who is also a member of Fingal County Council, said the man who made the threat had been in court along with some other people who also attended part of the defamation case.

There was also an attempted break-in at Mr Guerin’s home and another where a man delivered a copy of the “Irish Light” newspaper, which Ms O’Doherty is editor of, to Mr Guerin’s home and took a photo of the Guerin home and car registration, counsel said.

The case was before Mr Justice Tony O’Connor on Tuesday when the judge ordered that Ms O’Doherty be restrained from publishing any further allegedly defamatory material about Mr Guerin and his legal team before the rehearing of a defamation action brought by the councillor against her.

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That defamation action ended last November with a jury unable to reach a verdict and it was adjourned to be put into a new jury list for this year.

In that action, Mr Guerin claimed he was defamed in social media and internet publications in which Ms O’Doherty referred to “the paedophile brother of Veronica Guerin”, who was murdered in 1996.

She denied she was referring to Jimmy Guerin and said it was clear she was talking about Martin Guerin, also her brother, who had been convicted of possession of hundreds of child pornography images.

When the case first came up for mention last month for a new jury date, the court heard she had defied the judge’s directions not to publish anything further which was allegedly defamatory pending the rehearing of the case. Mr Guerin sought orders that she take this material down.

The case returned on Tuesday when the court discharged Ms O’Doherty’s lawyers at their request because they were unable to get instructions from her and she had not appeared personally.

Mr Lupton, for Mr Guerin, said Ms O’Doherty had not just continued to repeat defamatory material but had “doubled down” with further defamations and at “quite a high volume” since the case was last in court in December.

It included various untrue allegations about conduct of the November defamation hearing including references to Mr Guerin’s legal team and to Mr Justice O’Connor. It was both online and in the Irish Light freesheet.

Counsel said there had been incidents including a car being driven around the area Mr Guerin lives, and in which Mr Guerin’s senior counsel lives, with a scrolling message on it making further defamatory allegations about him and his legal team, counsel said.

The court heard Ms O’Doherty filed an affidavit in which she repeated many of the claims against Mr Guerin and his lawyers and the judge, as well as repetitions of many of the contested claims she made during the defamation hearing.

She claimed her life was being endangered by the Guerin action and that she had suffered five years of harassment since it was initiated.

“Any further threats to my security and invasions of my privacy by these people, especially involving my personal address will be exposed to my large audience and dealt with accordingly,” she said.

“My personal safety has been directly threatened as a result of this vexatious case and should it continue Judge Tony O’Connor will be held personally liable by me publicly”, she said.

Mr Justice O’Connor noted Ms O’Doherty made many claims but with no specifics given.

He also noted there were some people in court with an interest in the case and they could also pass on to Ms Doherty what the court was saying it wanted from her.

Mr Guerin should put his new claims of physical harassment on affidavit, to which Ms O’Doherty could reply and the case could come back before him next week, he said.

The judge said what was ironic about all this was that Ms O’Doherty was “conscious of her own security but does not seem to have regard for the security of others”.

He also said we live in a society where parties litigate their disputes. If Ms O’Doherty wants to live in a civilised society, she would have to do this in a civilised way, he said.

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