A guesthouse owner said to be involved in an "ongoing war" with a neighbouring guesthouse owner in Killarney was convicted yesterday of harassment.
She was fined €600 and asked to give an undertaking under oath not to disturb her neighbours again.
Ms Christine McSweeney, Muckross Drive, Killarney, "aged around 60", had come out of her house on July 8th last to tell her neighbour, Mr Pat O'Connell, a cancer sufferer, he was "a hungry f...er" and she hoped "the cancer would come out the other side of his neck," Supt Michael Maher told Killarney District Court.
Mr O'Connell, a recipient of a "People of the Year" award for his charity work, reported her behaviour to gardaí.
When Garda Theresa Wedel called to Ms McSweeney's home to investigate the complaint by Mr O'Connell, she was also abused, although there was no charge in relation to this, Supt Maher told the court.
"Ms McSweeney waved her arms in the air and said she was harassed by Mr O'Connell," Supt Maher said. However, she failed to produce any details of any such harassment. She then told Garda Wedel to get away from her house and proceeded to use strong language towards her, saying "F... off, you bitch".
Ms McSweeney had a previous conviction, in September 2003, for harassing Mr O'Connell. On that occasion she had been fined €1,200 and told not to communicate with him again. Her conduct last July was in effect a breach of that court order, Supt Maher said.
Ms McSweeney's solicitor, Mr Terence Casey, said both parties ran neighbouring guesthouses, and there was no real fence between the two premises.
"There's a sort of ongoing war as to who gets what guests," he said.
On the day in question, departing German guests had asked Ms McSweeney what was going on between herself and her neighbour as her next-door neighbour had told them not to stay with her, Mr Casey said. "She blew her top. She became very upset. It was then she said that [ the insulting remarks]. She's an elderly lady," Mr Casey said.
Judge Humphrey Kelleher convicted Ms McSweeney of harassment under the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act and fined her €600.
He also called her to the stand and asked her to give an undertaking under oath not to harass or disturb Mr O'Connell again, which she gave.